On This Day: Getting In Trouble For Speaking God’s Truth

   “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. (Acts 26:19-21)

   Yes, the parallel to Charlie Kirk is plain to see. However, I want to both expand the picture from “Be like Charlie” to “be like the Apostles”, and narrow the picture from what everyone out there is doing to what God is doing with you.

   My first concern would be, how are you doing with this whole getting in trouble for talking about Jesus stuff? Are you one of the troublemakers who hate it when Christians claim that there is “no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”? or that Jesus alone is “the way, the truth, and the life”?

   Are you one of those fearful Christians who has never settled with God that “Jesus Christ is Lord”, and so you don’t see why you should set yourself up for trouble by telling people about him?

   Or are you a believer who sincerely tries to find opportunities to talk to others about Jesus but finds the scary side of things a bit overwhelming?

   I have never been a believer who has felt I had the right to keep the good news to myself. You know, just go to church, soak in the grace of God so we feel good and safe, and just leave that scary evangelism stuff to the hero Christians. I think I have known from childhood that the good news I was told was the good news I had to tell.

   However, I can really relate to the fear-based side of evangelism. You know, getting in trouble even when doing nothing wrong! That was such a painful thing for me in my growing up that it was ingrained into me to avoid danger. If I got someone mad, it always meant I was doing something wrong.

   Over the years, God has clearly ministered to me about this fear as John described, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (I John 4:18). Yes, my fear had to do with fearing punishment (getting in trouble for doing things the wrong way), and God’s love for me as his adopted son has been constantly working to “cast out fear” and fill me with faith in Jesus as my security with God.

   I am now able to look back at a long history of getting in trouble for “speaking the truth in love” and accept that it is the norm. If Jesus got crucified for BEING the truth in love, and Paul kept being persecuted for telling the truth in love, then us facing hate and hardship from the world for declaring to them “the good news of great joy” is just a fact of life. There’s nothing we can do about that except water down the message so people are no longer offended by truth, and that is NOT an option (even though so many churches are doing it)!

   I regularly find that Scripture, God’s word, is “teaching” me what to believe and share with others, “reproving” me in areas I was mistaken in something I believed and taught, “correcting” me in what I should believe and teach from hereon, and training me to walk in the “righteousness of faith” that is constantly growing up to be and act like Jesus.

   And the trouble that comes is simply a badge of honor that the world would treat us the same way as it treated our Savior. We don’t seek trouble. We don’t seek to be troublemakers (we are peacemakers). But we do accept the trouble that comes no matter what the direction and who the instigator. We unite with Jesus’ church in “the obedience of faith” without favoritism or partiality, and we support one another in whatever troubles we get in for sharing the good news about Jesus.

   I am pretty sure this is the first time I have gone through Luke’s account of the gospel and straight into his history of the early church as written in the book of Acts (normally I would have continued into John’s gospel).To see what happened to Jesus, and how the apostles led the way in living for Jesus no matter what, is still our living example of how to live for Christ.

   And if we need encouragement to tell people about Jesus, the best examples are right there in the word of God. So let us get in the word so we can go into the world with this good news. 

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)