Your Opinion

Some people don’t speak up in conversations because they don’t think anyone wants to hear their opinion. Some are just fearful of making a statement that starts a fight that they won’t be able to survive by defending their ideas in.

Most people don’t want to hear anyone’s opinion unless it endorses their opinion. They are not interested in what your thoughts are. If they happen to read Scripture, it is usually just to find something Jesus said that agrees with them.

Not many of us have conversations hoping to learn things. Especially not to learn scary things that we are responsible for, or new things that don’t make sense, or costly things.

If all of that is true, then most people don’t want to hear what you have to say. That is irrelevant in at least two situations: One is that if the Spirit tells you to speak up, then you need to speak up, even if you are terrorized, even if you don’t know how to defend yourself in a debate on the matter, even if you are not sure. The other is when someone actually does want to know what you think, without regard for whether it is because they want to learn something or if they just want to know where you stand.

Don’t get lazy about stepping into a conversation by fact that the majority of the time no one cares about what you would add. Always love Jesus and your neighbor enough to listen for opportunities to share why you have hope or why you think righteousness is important or how you live through life’s pains and challenges.

Be courageous. Be awesome!