The story is told about a Christian who was thrown to the lions during the time of the early church. The first hungry lion was released and ran with lightning speed toward the Christian. At the moment the lion was within distance of pouncing onto the Christian, the Christian held up his hand and motioned for lion to stop. After the lion had come to a surprised, but abrupt halt, the Christian walked slowly over to the awaiting beast and whispered something in its ear. With a shriek of horror, the lion ran off in another direction and cowered in a corner of the stadium. One by one, additional hungry lions where released and one by one, the Christian's whispering had the same effect on each of them. Frustrated, the master of ceremonies finally had someone go down and ask the Christian what he kept saying to each lion that, under normal circumstances, would have made the Christian his dinner by now. "Simple," said the Christian. "I just tell them that they are going to be asked to say a few words to the crowd after dinner."
Someone has remarked that the fear of public speaking for most people ranks at the same level as skydiving. I can certainly understand and remember my "cotton-mouth" days long ago before I was ever a pastor and found myself in the pulpit 2-3 times a week. But let us remember that words are not always required for us to let the world know that Jesus is the answer.
St. Francis of the Assisi is famous for his words, "Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." A well-known vocabulary program that is often advertised on the radio claims that, "people judge you by the words that you speak." While this is true to a certain extent, it does not tell the whole story. The Bible tells us in Proverb 17:28 that "even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." Someone else has remarked, "It is often better to keep your mouth shut lest you appear a fool, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt."
When speaking to parents in our church I like to remind them of the old adage: "Children more attention pay, to what you do, than what you say." Let us remember, that what will really judge us in the end will not be just the words we say, as important as they may be, but what we do and what we are. If ever there was a time when the world needed to see true Christianity, it is today. People are tired of hypocrisy. They are looking for people that live the life. Let us not forget that "what we do speaks so loud they can't hear what we are saying."
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