Are we sitting by while they are being stoned?

Stephen had just preached the truth (Acts 7).

He had meticulously explained how Jesus was prophecy fulfilled, the coming Righteous One, and how the “stiff-necked people” had rejected Him.

The people were enraged. But Stephen did not shrink back.

And the people, upon hearing truth, “stopped their ears”, and they stoned Stephen to death.

And, so goes the world today. Many stop their ears to truth and run forward in sin.

We call right “wrong” and wrong “right” just as Isaiah prophesied (Isa 5:20) we would.

Deep down we know things are wrong; but many don’t want to hear truth, and we shrink away from those who speak it.

Our society has made it socially unacceptable to speak truth and call biblical truth “politically incorrect” and even, “hate speech”.

We’ve sank so low that some in our society can’t even bring themselves to call infanticide “wrong” and vote to protect the most innocent among us!

God, help us!

And many Christians sit in silence, we stop our ears, and avoid conversations with anyone who dare call sin, “wrong”.

We look on while society “stones” them with words:

“Radical”
“Extreme Right”
“Religious conservative zealot”

We seek to quiet preachers who speak truth for more “seeker friendly” narratives.

We think “grace-heavy, truth-light” teaching will produce peace; but it has failed and has resulted only in a flimsy, fleeting “surface peace” and a society in turmoil.

Author, Paul David Tripp, says, “Surface peace isn’t real peace.”

He’s right.

For there can only ever be surface peace when sin is not addressed.

We pretend like the sin issue isn’t there. We ignore it. We overlook it. We fail to address it in our lives and the lives of others.

And it festers. It spreads like an infection eventually eroding all semblance of peace in people and in societies. We are seeing this now!

But real love seeks to help others walk in freedom from sin and find real peace.

Real love courageously speaks truth, in a kind way, and produces real peace.

Real love leads to peace and knows it is out of God’s kindness that He shows us our sin so we might be led to repentance and real peace. (Rom 2:4)

And sometimes, He shows us this sin through the words of others.

Let’s don’t stop our ears! Lets encourage and pray for those who dare speak truth in a world that seeks to stone them.

Let’s open our own mouths and point others to peace that can only be found in life lived the way God says it should be lived.

And let’s pray for each other and this country that is running 100 mph away from God.

May God raise up truth-tellers and may we encourage them.

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