Proverbs 15:1, No Velvet Cross!
September 7, Proverbs 15:1
Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1-14 “Hold fast the form of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13).
No Velvet Cross!
Before we leave this proverb, there is another thought implicit here that should be brought out, especially in these days of widespread compromise among professing Christians. “Equivocation is half-way to lying, and lying is the whole way to hell!” To this Spurgeon added, “but by a carefully constructed equivocation truth is murdered.”
1. Murdering the Truth: The soft answer may be a sign either of cowardice or a loss of conviction. Soft has another shade of meaning. We see it, for instance, in Genesis 33:13. There it refers to the tender children, implying weakness or undeveloped character (BDB). Because of the present dislike of controversy, of earnestly contending for the faith, many pastors and churches have withdrawn from the field of battle for the Lord. The cry now is Peace! Peace! as in Jeremiah’s day. The emphasis in many evangelical churches has switched from sound of doctrine to sound of music and the louder the better! Rather than fighting for the faith they are falling for the false, or, going with the flow, and the people love to have it so. David F. Wells, a theology professor, in a neo-evangelical school, has seen this serious drift taking place among evangelicals. He has written a book entitled, No Place For Truth, (1993) with the sub-title, “Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?” Wells writes, “The older orthodoxy was driven by a passion for the truth, and that was why it could only express itself in theological terms. The newer Evangelicalism is not driven by the same passion for truth (emphasis added), and that is why it is often empty of theological interest” (p.12). This is the age of “feel-good preaching”, and of “the glossy modern evangelical gospel of success”, said Robert C. Roberts, commenting on Wells book! Tragically we have gone soft on the truth today, and that leads to murdering truth and to the eventual death of true Christianity.
2. Maintaining the Truth: There is a great difference between being jealous for one’s own honour, and being jealous for the honour of the Lord. Those stalwarts who stood for The Faith in the past were often labeled as having “No Love,” or of being “Divisive.” It may be that “Standing for the Truth” was a “front for an obstinate mind.” Still, making allowances for human frailties, the issues for which those giants fought were vital to the survival of Biblical Truth. We, who hold these truths today, are standing on their shoulders. In this struggle there must be firmness behind the softness. “A soft heart needs a hard head!” Otherwise, softness or sympathy will run away with a man, and lead him onto dangerous ground. Sound judgment must guide soft feelings, or harm will be done where good was intended. A velvet glove can cover a fist of steel, but the steel must still be within the velvet glove. Faithfulness may be gentle in form, but gentleness must always be faithful in substance. Where these two join, a soft answer will never hide a denial of the faith once delivered. “Truth seeks no corners, and fears no scorners.”
Thought: “No man has a velvet cross” (John Flavel).
Prayer: That I might be as soft in answer and as solid for truth as Jesus.