Quietology Is The Best Theology

As 2018 is coming rapidly to a close and as we enter the holiday season, it is an opportunity for me to reflect, contemplate, and meditate upon this year. I’ve had my share of difficulties and challenges as well as joys and triumphs. I’ve had the opportunity to see the quality of my life improve as each day, week, and month goes by for which I am grateful. But one key ingredient that contributed to the success of my year and that is the ability to remain quiet amidst criticism. It wasn’t necessarily a resolution per se, but I was determined to remain consistent not to argue, debate, quarrel, engage verbally, and vocalize contention with those who simply didn’t understand the course my life was taking. I simply learned to do more talking with my silence than with my words and it worked. I’m making it a practice to streamline my thoughts as I prepare to speak because I want my words to count when I do speak and not just talk for the sake of talking with words full of shallowness and superficiality. I Thessalonians 4:11 says “And that you study to be quiet….” Being quiet is not the same as getting quiet. In the Greek context the word study is philotimeomai, which means from a love of honour to strive to bring something to pass, to strive earnestly, make it one’s aim to be quiet, which is Greek  hēsycházō, to keep still, refrain from labor, meddlesomeness or speech:—cease, hold peace,  be silent, say nothing and rest. To get quiet is to turn talking on and off like a faucet, but being quiet is a posture of listening and observing the actions of others and display a body language that supports or resists the activity of others. Being quiet doesn’t imply that you’re non-sociable, snobbish, or even you’re angry. A person of silence is a person of great strength. Proverbs 15:28 says “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: ” A response isn’t always necessary immediately, you need to ponder some questions before you answer them because some questions can become traps. When I practice this principle, it works effectively. You cannot accuse a man of anything negatively when he’s silent. And silence will cease a lot of verbal attack that may come your way. The silent treatment isn’t necessarily mistreatment if you’re exercising it in a godly way. See to it that you stay in godly character, stun your opposition with optimistic and positive replies and stand on your principles and don’t deviate from them because of the nature of the situation. In so doing, your quietology will be your best theology. Your witness can be most powerful in what you do not say instead of what you say!