What is the purpose of a story? Why do we fall in love with characters that were born out of caverns of the author’s imagination? Why do the plots of the stories we love and the lessons of the characters we adore stay with us our whole lives? Why do we run to stories in an attempt to “escape” from our reality? Could it be that we are looking for something deeper? Something more than an entertainment story to help pass the time? I believe that every story is more than just entertainment. It has a lesson to teach, whether for good or evil. Every writer, every creator, has a message they are trying to convey. A point they are trying to get across. I believe that God can use anything to teach us a lesson. He can use any story (book, movie, or drama) to help us gain a new perspective and to look at life, and ourselves, in a way we did not see before. These are the lessons we can learn from storybook characters!
“Stay in your place
Better seen and not heard
But now that story is ending
‘Cause I cannot start to crumble
So come on and try
Try to shut me and cut me down
I won’t be silenced
Though you wanna see me tremble when you try it
All I know is I won’t go speechless,
‘Cause I’ll breathe
When they try to suffocate me
Don’t you underestimate me
‘Cause I know that I won’t go speechless”
I am a firm believer in keeping statements in context. Songs, especially, I have found are easy to use out of the context in which they were written and be twisted and used for whatever view we want. However, when I heard this song, I found some truth in these words that can be applied to our Christian life, while also not shredding the original intent of the writing.
For a little background to this song, Princess Jasmine sings this during a time and culture that was known for silencing women, just because they were women. Even if they had wisdom to impart or a better idea of the situation than those who were trying to take over, they were told to remember their place and be quiet.
After listening to this song a few times, I discovered a little gem in these words, and a call to action for Christians. We live in a time where people are encouraged to find their voices, to speak out and change the status quo; and this idea has been a generally accepted one in our society. Excepting in one area: The truth of Christianity.
In a time where voices are encouraged to get louder and louder, the voices of Christians have gotten quieter and quieter. When others are setting out to “change the status quo”, we are trying not to rock the boat. Today, instead of women being the targets, Christians and their message are being told to “stay in your place”, we have no place beyond the walls of our churches, or outside of our own designated “Christian” arenas. We are “better seen and not heard” in the public places or the halls of our government. And we have quietly gone along with this. Instead of staying in the thick of things and being a light for God in all areas of our society, we have pulled back into our own little corner and done our own thing.
Instead of being witnesses in every industry, and trying to make a difference, we created our own schools, our own entertainment industry, and we have agreed with those who tell us where our boundaries are. Now, there is nothing wrong with having these things and avoiding the areas in society that are wrong and damaging to us and our children…but we have pulled so far out of these places we have become hermits, shutting out the world and staying in our own little separate bubble. Friends, this should not be!
Our light is to shine before men in every area of the world that people see it and KNOW who we are and Whom we serve!
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” -Matthew 5:14-16
This past year, while I watched evil abound with little resistance, I looked to the church…those who should be speaking up…and I heard many give the excuse, “we don’t want to end up in the media.” So they remained silent. For fear of being in the media, or offending people, or out of “love”, Christians were the quietest voices in 2020. Yet I discovered the exact OPPOSITE in the scriptures:
Peter and John were arrested in Acts 4 for speaking to the people in the public temple. After spending a night in custody and being threatened not to speak at all, they refused to be silenced. Only one chapter later, again in the public temple, they continued to speak and were yet again arrested, and there was even a plot to kill them. Stephen was arrested for speaking in public among the people, and he was killed for this.
Paul, a man the church loves to look to as one of the great examples in the early church, was NOT known for staying in the background and out of the news. In fact, he was quite famous for creating a stir in the local, and global, news.
“But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” -Acts 4:19-20
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” -Acts 6:8
“Then Paul stood in the the midst of the Areopagus…” -Acts 17:22a
The early church faced things greater than causing offense to people, or being on the front page of the news. They, and their families, faced imprisonment, torture and death…yet they refused to go speechless. Though I have no doubt there were times they trembled, they would not crumble or be silenced, but they let that make them all the bolder!
“Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word…” – Acts 4:29
In a time when the world is screaming for their voices to be heard and to change the status quo, the voices of the church should be even louder. In these days when the world is trying harder than ever to silence and intimidate us, we should be all the bolder.
The world wants to see us tremble when they try to stop us. It wants to see us crumble into silence and shrink back into our “place”. Yet my prayer is that we will do the opposite; that we will apply still more determination than all those around us who refuse to be silent about every little issue they dislike in the world.
May this story of keeping Christians silent in their own bubble be ending; and though we may tremble when they try to stop us, may we refuse to go speechless!
Preserving Foundations 
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