If you have just been arrested and brought before a tribunal filled with angry men who are threatening to beat you to death with stones because of what you have been saying, do you start back-pedalling in an attempt to get out of there alive, or do you boldly tell them what is on your mind? Acts chapter 7 describes how Stephen, who had just been elected as one of the seven people in charge of handing out food to widows, chose to speak out, regardless of the personal consequences.
Stephen started speaking about the history of the relationship between God and the people of Israel. The tone of his speech kept building until its climax, a true “tell it like it is” moment, in which he told his listeners that they were stubborn people, “uncircumcised in heart and ears”, always resisting the Holy Spirit, and they had now become “betrayers and murderers” of the Righteous One. This was something significant to be passionate about, and it met with a passionate response – they killed him.
There are plenty of people in the present age who are happy to speak their mind, regardless of whom they offend. They often choose to express their views through blog posts and website comments, safely under the cloak of relative anonymity, and knowing that their incendiary comments cannot be met with imminent retaliatory violence. But how many things do you believe in so passionately that you are prepared to die for them?