May 31, 2018
Some
of the listeners became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly
maligned the Way. So Paul left
them. Acts 19:9
People who have to prove something publicly are often hiding something
privately. Be careful your public
attitude is not a defense for a private problem.
It’s often the loudest people who have the biggest problems –
they are just better at deflecting the topic toward someone else.
Remember the old childhood story of the boy who cried
wolf? He was loud enough to get peoples’
attention, and drew a crowd. His loud
shouts got something done, but the problem wasn’t really a security issue … it
was an insecurity issue. His biggest
problem wasn’t the wolf, it was the broken character of his soul. Eventually, the boy wasn’t believed, and the
wolf did show up.
There are times to be loud, and even to speak up, but when a
person is loud often, or constantly speaking, they tend to be covering up a
deeper problem. It’s easier to hide
behind our arguments than repent humbly from our sins. That’s why these men in Acts 19 used their
loud arguments against Paul when their sin was exposed. They went public, bad-mouthing Paul and the
Christians, instead of dealing privately with their failures. And even though it seemed like a victory when
Paul left them, they were defeated when the Truth of God was heard by everyone
else. That’s the problem --- our loud
opposition often ends up killing the truth that can help us!
Take a week and watch the way people use their voices to
hide themselves. You’ll notice it with a
friend who is constantly talking so that you can’t question their behavior. You’ll see it with kids who are trying to avoid
bedtime by keeping their parents talking.
You’ll even notice it from salespeople who are pushing their products,
or a spouse who covers their loneliness by talking about useless
information. All of those loud voices
are covering up the pain and sin within.
Paul wasn’t deterred with the message by these men, he just
changed his strategy to communicate it.
Instead of getting into an argument, Paul took the truth to more &
more people, leaving these loud mouths more and more isolated by the crowd of
people who knew better. It all goes to
show us, we can run from the Truth and we can shout at the Truth, but we can’t
change the Truth. Jesus is Lord, whether
we scream and holler or not.
Be careful what you take public – make sure you have the
Truth figured out before you start maligning anything. Otherwise, you might just find yourself alone
when the wolf comes prowling.
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