Posted on 08/27/2016 4:18:53 PM PDT by Gamecock
Many Christians believe that the highest calling God has placed on us is to be nice. These Christians are wrong.
God has not called us to be nice. Rather, he has called us to be good. Here’s the difference: nice people never confront evil. Good people do. Nice people are weak. Good people are strong.
Jesus wasn’t nice. He was kind, he was compassionate, he was caring, but he was unbending and unflinching when it came to standing for the truth. And it cost him his life.
Jo Swinney, in a column posted on Christian Today, says this: “Somewhere along the way, Christianity has got itself entangled with a soapy, soft, non-offensive concept: 'niceness.'” We are nice to everyone we meet “in the hope that our niceness will get them to church where more nice people will be there to welcome them.”
Now don’t misunderstand me. This is not a call to be rude or offensive or obnoxious or unkind. Jesus himself said persecution only carries a reward when people “utter all kinds of evil against you falsely” (Matthew 5:11). In other words, it doesn’t count if it’s true.
But let’s not forget the way in which the author and perfecter of our faith died. Nice people don’t get crucified. Nice people buckle, nice people give way, nice people always accommodate, nice people never offend. Nice people allow themselves to get pushed around and taken advantage of and treated like saps. As Ms. Swinney points out, niceness is not one of the fruits of the Spirit.
Paul wasn’t “nice” to the politicians in Philippi when he was unjustly arrested and imprisoned. His rights as a Roman citizen had been grossly violated, and when the city leaders realized what they had done, they were in a full-fledged panic. They pleaded with Paul to leave quietly and not make a fuss.
A nice person would have said, “No problem, fellas. You made an honest mistake, could have happened to anyone, we’ll leave without a peep.” Paul didn’t say that. He insisted, for the sake of the work and the people he was leaving behind, that city officials make their apology public and personally accompany his team to the outskirts of town. He had absolutely no hesitation in pressing his legal rights as a Roman citizen and insisting they be respected.
Now we certainly should always be courteous, kind, loving, patient and friendly. But there must be times when we stiffen our spines and say I am not going to bend on this issue. There is a moral standard at stake here on which I cannot compromise, and I must plant my feet and refuse to budge. Nice people don’t do that, but good people do. In fact, good people must.
It’s what Aaron and Melissa Klein did when they politely refused to use their artistic craft to honor a form of marriage which is offensive in the eyes of God. It’s what Kim Davis did when she refused to sign her name to a legal document which did the same thing. The Kleins and Ms. Davis were unfailingly courteous and civil in every interaction. They behaved in every instance with Christ-like restraint. But the Kleins got fined $135,000 and Ms. Davis got thrown in jail - for being good rather than nice.
Nice people don’t change history. Good people do. Good people confront others with their sin when it is appropriate. As Ms. Swinney points out, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a virtual stream of rebuke from one end to the other, for misdeeds ranging from jealousy and quarrelling to incest, immorality, idolatry, judgmentalism, drunkenness and mishandling spiritual gifts.
We here at AFA have confronted Target for its dangerous policy of allowing men into dressing rooms and bathrooms with little girls. It’s what good people and good organizations do.
Nice people don’t change the world but good people do. Jesus warned us that accepting his invitation to follow him would lead us eventually into resistance, rejection, and mistreatment.
But through people who were willing to endure unjust suffering in his name, he would bring the kingdom of God to earth. As Swinney says, “There is nothing nice about being a Christ-follower. It is dangerous, exhilarating, polarising stuff.”
Niceness masquerades as love, but it is exposed as a fraud if it conceals the truth in the process. Here is how Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross put it: "Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth."
Paul captured the balance perfectly when he said our calling is to imitate Christ by “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). We must always strive to have a Christ-like blend of love and truth about us. Mean people speak when they shouldn’t, but nice people don’t speak the truth when they should. Good people do.
Ping
Nice posting...
I mean good!
Amen.
2nd and 3rd paragraphs are all that you need to know.
Christians think Jesus was nice. . Only if you didn’t check for yourself could you believe that.
Amen. An very important distinction that many in today’s churches don’t get. Too many church leaders in particular.
Ping for later.
Gospel if Nice—sounds like the Methodists.
Anger shuts down reason in favor of emotion.
Some would define “being nice” as the simple avoidance of “angering” others with our own anger.
This is different than avoiding a truth which will stir anger regardless of how “nicely” you say it.
Yes.. we ARE called to be nice. We are NOT called to avoid truth.
We need to understand personally in each circumstance we go through WHY we are choosing NOT to speak or WHY we should stop... and most importantly WHY we DO speak.
Sometimes exposing the truth of a matter itself is NOT helpful. It may be that someone is lying... but pointing out the lie may only serve to shut down the lines of communication as one example.
This is why I often prefer coming up with the right question, instead of the right “truthful” statement...
but even this will often times result in an angry response.
Don’t be afraid of someone else’s anger... be afraid of your own.
This needed to be pointed out.
Thank you.
If we were all namby-pamby, nicey-nice Christians then Christianity would have been wiped out centuries ago.
Ping to share with others later
People telling me about Jesus personality, always remind me of that scene at the table in Talladega nights. Asking someone to tell you about Jesus personality is a fairly effective rorschach test.
“I’M HERE TO PARTY!”
Agreed. Being a holy righteous people does not mean everything we do can be interpreted as “nice.” Look at what happened to Jesus, he was a “friend of sinners and drunkards,” and was looked down on for it. The religious leaders of the day were confronted by Him and referred to as being a “brood of vipers.” He said things that were controversial for His day and was murdered because of it. So yes, doing what is right is not always interpreted as “nice.”
Tuxedo T-shirt...
It's more wise to fear God above all else.
>>> It’s more wise to fear God above all else.
I don’t think that is the same kind of fear.
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