Put up your hand if you’ve heard any of these:
- “Just leave it in God’s hands.”
- “Be careful what you’re feeding on.”
- “Questioning Christians are questionable Christians.”
- “Don’t be fishing around in the sea of forgiveness.”
- “The problem isn’t the problem, the problem is everyone talking about the problem.”
The common denominator in all of these statements is a not so veiled “stand down” kind of message. Like this idea that anybody who is actually DOING anything, or even just talking, let alone asking questions, is somehow the enemy. In other words, repackaging silence and passivity into a disguise of humility and submission. Creating a culture where “up and doing” has now become something bad.
On the other hand, put up your hand if you’ve met any of these people recently:
- The passionate, almost obsessive, victim/survivor advocates. The ones putting in untold and unseen hours, the ones who literally melt in tears at the thought of one more abuse story like the hundreds they’ve already heard.
- Or the growing number of ex-Workers who were unwilling to be muzzled, empowered by the truth they knew, refusing to bow down to a hierarchy that was demanding them to “be quiet or else;” the “or else” meaning losing their place in the Ministry where they thought truth mattered.
- The huge group of all ages and demographic from the church who refused to sign the metaphorical NDA swearing them to silence about the church’s history, or about the financial shenanigans going on in a multi million dollar “homeless Ministry,” or about unkindnesses resulting from levers being pulled to manipulate lists and meetings and companions and all manner of arrangements made “for the good of the kingdom.”
- And last but not least, that nerdy bunch who really want to understand the Bible, and who ask questions, and who read “other” books, and aren’t afraid to tell the REAL story, the REAL good news, the gospel of grace and being beloved by God. The ones who aren’t afraid to sit down and talk about how close indigenous wisdom really is to a truer Christian wisdom, even if the conversation makes them squirm.
And the common denominator in all of these people? Courage, empowerment, voice, action. Real life action. Maybe even faith. Not just . . . “oh that poor guy over there in the ditch, shucks, wish I could stop but I gotta get home for Bible study.” No, so much more than that. People who walk across the road, down into the ditch, and put goodness and love and truth into real life circumstances. Action, not just quiet passivity hiding behind the copout of “leaving it in God’s hands.”
So I got to thinking about figures in the Bible who were courageous and empowered and who stood up and who spoke. And then after these, about some who for all intents and purposes “left it in God’s hands” and who thought passivity was somehow virtuous, confusing it with humility (they’re not the same thing).
- The persistent widow in Luke 18. She was relentless. Annoying? Yes, but unwilling to stand down until justice was served.
- The man in Luke 11 banging on his neighbour’s door in the middle of the night for bread.
- The servants in Matthew 25 who actually did something with the money left them, who took initiative, and didn’t just roll their words and actions up in a napkin.
- The Samaritan in Luke 10 who understood that true compassion and empathy actually walk across the road and down into the ditch and care for the wounded. And then walks with them after, to ensure their safety and care.
- The fig tree in Luke 13. Nice tree, but no fruit . . . seeya.
- The lost sheep and lost coin, and the ones who got up and walked and searched until they were found.
- That Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 (depicted in the painting above). Talk about persistence. She pushed back on Jesus himself. She was not content to go away and be quiet.
- That woman with the blood thing in Mark 5, shoving her way through the crowd. I guarantee you she had some friends who thought she was crazy and should be at home in bed. But nope. Courage, empowerment, up and doing, and healing!
- Bartimaeus in Mark 10. He was literally told to shut up. But he wasn’t told that by Jesus. Gained his sight, life changed forever.
- Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Doing what he had to do to see Jesus.
- Those four buddies that hauled their mate up on the roof and lowered him down. Imagine having friends that when we don’t have the strength and courage, they pick up the torch, and pick us up, and carry it on for us! How cool is that story.
And we haven’t even touched the old testament heroes, like David, ignoring his older brother Eliab that completely dismissed him and thought he was a cocky brat to go take on Goliath.
You see it don’t you? You see that all these men and women had great faith. But their faith was PARTICIPATORY. It involved prayer, yes. But it also involved persistence, creativity, courage, and follow-through. Jesus’s admiration was rarely for those who waited silently or passively. Jesus himself was a man of action. A talker. A questioner. A walker (on water for goodness sake). And Jesus admired people who spoke and acted and walked.
And now think for a minute about these people:
- That rich young ruler in Mark 10; got his question answered, and then did nothing.
- Pilate in John 19, literally washed his hands of the issue; “Not my problem.”
- The disciples in Matthew 26 falling asleep. Full-on spiritual lethargy after Jesus Himself had asked them to watch and pray.
- The rich man in the Luke 16 story would have walked by that aching beggar at least a few times every day. Nothing. Just ignored him.
- The Israelites were paralyzed in fear, maybe even considering just going back into Egypt in Exodus 14 and God had to finally yell “get moving.”
And what’s the common thread in these ones? Fear! Complacency! And in some cases even a sort of false piety that had themselves convinced that doing nothing was somehow this “waiting on God” thing. When in fact, the godly response throughout scripture is to rise up, go, act, speak, move forward.
So next time someone challenges you for “talking about the problem” and urges you to “just leave it all in God’s hands,” think about how healing and truth and good has been achieved all through the ages, and certainly all through scripture. It hasn’t been by cowering in the tent. And especially not when you think about the many who can’t speak and talk and act because they’ve been abused so much they don’t even have a voice or legs or arms left.
To be very clear, I’m not suggesting go create conflict. But to all of you out there who are advocating for victims and survivors, for all of you out there who are listening to stories and telling stories, to all of you out there who are digging into scripture and asking and answering questions and discovering the true and real and beautiful Jesus story, and to all of you out there who have had the courage to “go forward,” please know that you are awesome! And please know that you’re all standing and speaking shoulder to shoulder with thousands over the centuries who have courageously done the same thing in their day.
By Tim Borys
Winnipeg, Canada
Oct 17, 2025
**Originally posted on Connected and Concerned Friends (CCF)
LINK: https://connected-and-concerned-friends.mn.co/posts/woman-you-have-great-faith
With photo of this painting: Christ and the Canaanite Woman – Pieter Lastman
1617 – Oil on panel, 75 x 105 cm – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam