How many of us have heard or even said, “If you can’t say something nice about someone then don’t say anything at all!” Is this sound biblical advice? Is this a Christian ethic?

In Matthew 23, Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites, children of hell, blind guides, blind fools, greedy, self-indulgent, deadly, unclean, and murderers. I guess Jesus never got the memo about only saying nice things! In Acts 13:10, Paul said to Elymas the magician, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?” I guess Paul didn’t get the memo about only saying nice things either! In 1 Kings 18:27, Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” Apparently, Elijah did not get the memo on saying only nice things to others either! How about Stephen when addressing the Jewish people, elders, and scribes in Acts 8:51-53, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Those words don’t sound particularly nice from Stephen, do they?

Why do I bring this up? I bring this up because I think that Christians have been deceived into thinking that we should only say nice things and if we can’t say nice things then we should stay quiet. We must understand that just because someone hates what we say does not mean that we have engaged in hateful speech. Just because someone is provoked by our words does not mean that we should not have said them. Just because someone is hurt or offended by our words does not mean we have to apologize. When people hate the truth, speaking the truth will be hated, and in our day, called hate speech.

In Ephesians 4:29, we are told, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Corrupting talk involves words that are evil and unwholesome. Corrupting talk is the opposite of talk that builds up. The truth builds up while untruths/lies tear down. In Colossians 4:6, we are told, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Engaging in gracious speech is not the same thing as always and only saying nice things and being a nice person. Jesus is full of grace and truth and for us to be gracious means we must also be truthful. Jesus embodied speaking the truth in love and for us to love as he loved means that we must also love truth and be truthful.

We live in a world that is suppressing the truth of God by its unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). We live in a world that has exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25). We live in a world that practices evil and approves of those who join them (Rom 1:32). Does God call us to be nice and make friends with this world? No! But God does call us to boldly and faithfully bear '“witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:2). Does Jesus tell us that if we would really live like him and talk like him and love like him that the world would love us too? No! Jesus tells us that “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

Jesus was accused of being a glutton, drunkard, insurrectionist, insane, demon possessed and a blasphemer. Paul was accused of sedition, temple desecration, blasphemy, heresy, and being a troublemaker. Stephen was accused of blasphemy and heresy. Elijah was called a troubler of Israel.

God referred to Jesus as his Son in whom he was well pleased. God called Paul a chosen instrument of his to carry his name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. God called Stephen a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. God called Elijah a man with a nature like ours who fervently prayed by faith for the glory of God.

Who is right about Jesus, Paul, Stephen, and Elijah? God or the world?

Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I have heard some professing Christians as well as some non-Christians vilify him as hateful and bigoted (plus a few more names). Just because he said things people hated does not mean he was hateful. Just because he said things people disagree with does not make him bigoted or racist. Did he say things that were not nice? Yes, he did, but niceness is not the measure of a Christian, is it?  Who is right about Charlie Kirk? Was he a faithful Christian or was he an evil and hateful man? Who are you going to believe? How will you judge?

In the end, it won’t matter what the world thinks of us. In the end, it will only matter what God thinks of us. When my time is up, my hope isn’t that the world will call me a good Christian; my hope is that God will say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master!”