Adversity Tests Your Witness

Let’s consider the facts, because we’ve all been there. You walk into the meeting; it doesn’t really matter whether everyone around the table is wearing suits and ties or yellow reflective vests and composite-toed boots. Your boss is there. His boss is there. All of your co-workers are there. Before you even sit down someone in the room starts yelling – yes yelling – that you are the reason for the meeting. Your failure to perform one simple task has placed everyone in jeopardy. Because you failed to act, supported by your lack of communication or understanding of the politics going on behind the scenes, everyone is now in jeopardy.

Immediately you are outraged – that’s the common response when you are accused of something that is false. You hold your tongue when your first reaction is to call out your accuser equally as loud, and in this case equally as unprofessional. You look around the room and start to wonder if everyone believes him. You begin to prepare your defense, consider counter accusations, postulate on the facts as you know them. He pauses in his tirade, seemingly open for your rebuttal. That small voice starts bubbling up from the back of your mind. Just as your anger peaks, just as you part your lips to remind everyone in the room that the job was not yours; rather, it was your accuser’s responsibility, that small voice, meek and mild, gains your attention.

“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.” (Prov. 21:23, NKJV)

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.” (Prov. 15:1-2, NKJV)

And before you can make a mental argument, the voice volleys one more across your bow.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:33-37, NKJV)

The final words ring in your mind, “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Adversity is something we are all familiar with. How we deal with it can be as important for our witness to others as it can for our internal relationship with Christ. We can write blogs, preach for hours, and quote scripture all day long, but plainly put, our actions speak louder than our words.

As Christians we often think we’re right. We base our decisions on our understanding of scripture. We ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” and then we assume that answer is the right answer.

But what happens when it isn’t? What happens to your witness when your determination of what Jesus would do is flawed? Even if your choice is on the side of truth, what happens when that truth causes more conflict? You’ve heard it said, “Just because it’s true doesn’t make it right.”[1] The truth is sometimes as damning as the lie.

In many, if not all cases, wisdom trumps truth, and humility is probably a better answer even when we’re on the side of righteousness. Not every wrong needs righted. Not every accusation deserves correcting. Sometimes, silence speaks volumes.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7, NKJV)

While no actual scenario is analogous to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, His choice should speak volumes. Jesus was not only right, He was righteous – He knew no sin. Jesus’ accuser (technically that’s you and me) was loud and a liar, but He stayed silent. In His supreme wisdom, Jesus understood that His actions would reverberate across all of history for all time. While our response to our unrighteous accuser won’t likely rise to that level of importance, it may actually resonate on someone totally unrelated to an eternal degree. Again, put simply, your choice to rise above the noise might actually be the tipping point in someone else’s quest for Jesus.

So the next time you consider how “right” you are in your position and formulate a scathing response founded in righteous anger, consider Jesus’ words in the Garden.

“Jesus replied, ‘Do what you came for, friend.’ Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. ‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?’” (Matt 26:50-54, NIV)

Your response may be true, it may even be warranted. What you have to decide, though, is whether or not it is right.

[1] Sorry – even Google can’t give me the origin of that one.