THE LOUDEST DO THE LEAST

One truth I have learned over my 35 years as a Christian leader is this: People who yell the loudest are the ones who in the end usually do the least. This “yell loud, do little” dynamic is usually the case in the church also, whether in America or internationally.

Over the decades of my ministry, “causes” have come and gone. For example, the causes of refugees, hunger, the homeless, and global poverty that was led by Bono and the One movement. And today in America the cause dominating the headlines is racism.

In our modern world these legitimate causes often become a momentary “faddish thing” to embrace. People get emotionally caught up in the social media marketing of these causes and the celebrities that become their spokespersons.

The reason that “those who yell the loudest are the ones who in the end usually do the least” is because bringing about real change in our fallen world takes a tremendous amount of hard work. It requires people to invest their life in these causes. And very few people are willing to pay the price.

Although today thousands march in the streets, within a few months only a very small percentage will actually dedicate their lives to advance the cause toward positive and long-term change.

In a few months, the media will push a new cause and the old one will fade into the background. And this new cause will become the fad for many–shirts, hats, signs, Tweets, and Facebook posts.

I don’t want to invest a lot of my attention and energy in those who today are full of emotion and yelling the loudest, but in those who are the quiet change-agents who live out their convictions and work hard daily for the good of us all.