Don’t Be Timid; Speak Up & Take Action!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.’ (2 Timothy 1:7)

As we head into the rest of the week and into next week, with our son and his family coming to visit later this week, I am hesitant to start anything that I may not be able to finish before they show up.  Even something little has a tendency to become a big project when there is a short period of time, thanks to what the military refers to as Murphy’s Law.  Namely, if it can go wrong to screw up plans, it will. 

I’m a bit timid today which is a bit unnerving to me at this juncture, but it will pass (and I have some time to fix any screw-ups before they arrive, I think).  If I need to do something, I want to go do it and ‘git ‘er done’, but I also realize patience is a virtue that also needs practice as well, on occasion.

On a national/political level, we see in Europe and Canada a timidity among politicians for the will to defend their nations against unchecked immigration, and the ‘New World Order’ of ‘green servitude’ through stated policies of the World Economic Forum, where it is easier and more ‘politically correct’ to attack and attempt to restrict those who oppose such measures and in weakness allow the ‘homogenic suicide’ of their nations so as not to offend anyone. 

In time, their nations will no longer be their own, their cultures swept away along with the freedoms that they already have curtailed.  Timidity stopping needed action does not make the problem or issues go away.  Instead, it allows the problems to gain strength.  Sometimes, it takes only one to recognize and act to change the course of a nation from destruction to a renewal, but it comes at the price of overcoming the obstacles, the biggest one being one’s own fear of failure and the consequences failure may bring.

A lot of times we become timid because we’re not sure about the outcome of what we would like to do; a home project that may tax our skills or our wallets, for example.  Or it can be witnessing to others as we fear the outcome of rejection or ridicule, or not having the right response to a particular question.  But we have to understand that in both the home project and our witnessing for Christ, it’s a matter of trust; both in God and in our skills. 

To gain that trust we must hone our relationship with Jesus (by studying His Word and prayer) and our skills through practice.  We learn skills first by theory, watching others and perceiving how we can do the task at hand, and then go into practice by attempting to use what we learn. 

Cutting a board, making a corner, properly measuring a length of board or pipe for a beginner can sometimes be challenging.  I still fight making proper angles for baseboard when I need to make corners, but I’m better now than what I was at the beginning.  Practice makes perfect, or at least fewer errors.  It’s the same with witnessing, to witness without fear takes practice, and it’s a matter of simply doing it. 

Sometimes you will get rejected, but you find that many will also respond favorably.  You learn when to simply ask one needs prayer, or when someone needs to be led down the ‘Romans Road’ toward requesting salvation.  You can overcome being timid through both Faith and practice, whatever the task is at hand.

Paul wrote his 2^nd letter to Timothy specifically to get rid of ‘Timothy’s timidity’, to encourage Timothy to be the Godly person that Paul saw and lead Christians into proper doctrine and teachings.  Timothy, like many of us, was meek in his nature.  We don’t want to offend, or be the know-it-all, or come across as pushy.  People are also risk-adverse; if it appears it will hurt us or others, or if there is a possibility of failure, we tend to avoid these things. 

That’s why many of us don’t make it a habit of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, or drifting in our cars on the street.  Likewise, we don’t like to be the heavy hand that corrects someone who may be giving out improper facts, especially in today’s climate where facts are being superseded by feelings and people who speak the truth are being ‘cancelled’ in favor of ‘woke’ revisionism.    

Meek is not to be weak, however.  Moses was meek, but had to overcome his fear of public speaking to become the leader God wanted him to be.  David had to overcome being small in stature and his youthfulness to go toe-to-toe with Goliath, and later become the King of Israel.  We all have fears we must face, and for many the biggest fear is in our witnessing to others about Jesus.  Remember, though, as Paul told Timothy, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome our fear of failing, or subject to ridicule or ‘cancellation’. 

Do not fear asking someone if they need prayer, or if they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, as God through the Holy Spirit is with you.  Don’t worry about saying the wrong things, as the Holy Spirit will give you the words.  Don’t worry that you may not remember the exact book, chapter and verse of a line of Scripture as long as you know the Scripture itself.

In the broader scope of our existence in the secular world, do not despair over standing up for Truth and Righteousness.  When necessary, speak up against what is wrong and sinful.  We obviously need tactful and respectful dialogue when we engage, but the Truth must be spoken, with facts and not feelings driving our points. 

I may not like the case for ‘green servitude’ (environmental concerns overriding and restricting freedoms such as travel and commerce), but it is not simply ‘I don’t like it’, but ‘the restriction of freedoms and commerce to achieve green goals undermine the economic strength, and therefore the standards of living citizens have, of the nations that attempt to implement such policies’, and follow it up with facts that show that indeed occurring.  (Or just say, ‘I want my Ribeye, not my grasshoppers, grilled medium well’.)

Don’t use the excuse of ‘I can’t’ hold you back; you can do all things through Jesus and the Holy Spirit (Philippians 4:13).  As I would tell my children and now tell my grandchildren, when they would say ‘I can’t’ (usually things like tying their shoes, or cleaning their rooms) ‘you can and you will, because you need to’. 

There are many things we don’t want to do, or try to do and initially fail, but often those things are what we need to do – to survive, to live in a secure peace, and to live for Christ in obedience.  We were told to obey the Great Commission; we can and we will, because we need to!