It is wrong to be silent over sin - your own, or that which you are privy to.
Sin is a canker that eats at the soul and eventually destroys it eternally. As a child of God, when sin trickles into your life, do not conceal it or keep quiet over it. Keeping silent over your sin, and not confessing it to God , or to man, where help can be given, is a wrong against one's own soul.
When David sinned against man and God, he said of his silence over the whole matter - Psalm 32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.
In Psalm 31:10 ,the Psalmist said of his sin - Indeed, my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my strength has failed because of my sinfulness, and my bones waste away.
As a child of God, if you happen to fall into sin, and are mute about it, you tend to suffer like the Psalmist has described above. David loved the Lord, but harboured one sinful thought after the other, until he had committed adultery and murder. Sinful thoughts and supposedly harmless minute sinful actions can go a long way to destroy us, and then afterwards eat at our conscience. Are you a Christian, falling prey to a sinful habit? Do not be silent! Seek assistance from God or from a trustworthy figure of authority. Sin just does not go away and thrives if covered up in silence. LET IT OUT!
Secondly, it is not right for us as Christians to condone sin. God has set us up as watchmen - Isaiah 62:6-7 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
God is a jealous God, Deuteronomy 4:24, and it is inappropriate to keep silent over the things that take away God's Glory. Sin takes away God's Glory, and as children of God, and His watchmen on Earth, we ought to speak against it. Jesus could not keep quiet when His father's house was turned into a den of robbers. He spoke up rather dramatically to silence the growing canker. The zeal of the Lord must consume us to speak against sin and evil. We will attract the anger of God like Eli did, when he did nothing dramatic to change the evil ways of his sons. God was counting on Eli to bring sanity into the temple. God has given us authority as watchmen, whatever happens around us must concern us. To look on unconcerned means we are not doing our job well, and shall one day be accountable for our silence.
In Numbers 25, sin crept subtly into Israel. Some of the Israelites were having sexual affairs with the Moabites, and as a result were worshipping their idol Baal. This angered God! God ordered the death of all the ring leaders. Whilst this was being discussed, a culprit was brought before Moses and the elders, Phinehas instantly killed the culprit and his Midianite accomplice. This act by Phinehas appeased God and he curtailed His punishment on Israel, and honoured Phinehas.
In our day and time where grace abounds, God is not calling for the physical death of sinners, but for us as Christians to speak up, and pray against sin in our community and world. The zeal of God must consume us to expose sin and evil. We are responsible as the ambassadors of Heaven on Earth to preach about the Righteousness and Holiness of God. We are a signpost to the World. Keeping quiet in this aspect is a sin in itself - Ezekiel 33:7-9 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.
People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Proverbs 28:13
Do not be quiet over sin - forgiveness comes from acknowledging and confessing sin. Sin thrives in silence and obscurity , and dies off in exposure and in the light of God's Word of truth.
WHAT IS NEXT?
