Contemplative Bible Reading

Some thoughts about Bible verses

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Cannot Help Speaking

February 8th, 2009 · No Comments

Acts 4:20 (New International Version)

For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

Two items struck me about this verse.

What we have seen and heard

First, “what we have seen and heard.” This is the answer to the “data question.” That is, what have you seen or heard to lead you to believe such-and-such?

In Myers-Briggs Type terms, this is the question for an “S” person – a sensing person. Sensing people, I am one of them, gather information through our senses. We see, hear, taste, touch, smell (I think that is all of them) items. Intuitive people, the “N” in Myers-Briggs terms, have an intuition about things. An “N” person reaches a conclusion, but has difficulty explaining why. The data question helps an “N” person concentrate on things to help explain why they have a conclusion.

In this passage, the apostles have seen and heard Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, and the things they and others like them have done through the power of the Holy Spirit. They have facts to support their beliefs.

I find it fascinating that the data question appears in scripture. I had not noticed it before.

We cannot help speaking about

Now to the second item in this verse: the phrase, “we cannot help speaking about…”

Years ago I heard an old country preacher repeat something that he was told as a young man. The old preacher in his youth was considering preaching as a life. He was also considering the small economic rewards of that profession. An older man told him one thing. It was, “Don’t preach if you can keep from it.” In other words, preaching wasn’t a good profession. Do something else unless “you cannot help speaking.”

The apostles were in this situation. They could not stop themselves from speaking about Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, and the things they had seen and heard through them.

I have known people who had to preach. They could not keep from it. They could not keep from speaking and sharing the Gospel with others. I have known people who had to write. They could not live without putting words to paper or to a computer screen.

I am almost like this. I write. I struggle when I do not or cannot write. I have to write. I know people who are farther into this situation than myself. They cannot breathe if they are not writing.

The apostles give me an example. Can I live without sharing the Gospel? What if I can? What does that say of my faith?

Tags: Mark · New Testament

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