Don't Be Rude

I see a lot of rudeness in today’s culture. We think being aggressive will get us what we want rather than the more positive assertiveness. If we don’t fight for what we want, we could lose more. Yes, we need to fight for what is right, but not to get what we individually want. We need to work and fight as a team to keep humanity on the higher track, one that lifts us up and isn’t putting us down.

So many quote the Golden Rule, which can be found in Luke 6:31 NKJV - And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. What I see more often is mistreatment and then retaliation which cycles into a downward trend. We have racism, religious persecution, rape, stealing, lying, and murder to name a few things all because each individual is striving for what they want first.

We are not to retaliate to the evil. I’ve seen hatred diffused because of one act of kindness. Sometimes it will take a lot of acts of kindness, but in the end kindness wins. This is because it is based on love. 1 Cor 13:4-5 NKJV says - Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. We are to show love even to our enemies, so they know that what they are doing is not right. We are not to let the enemy walk all over us, but they better know we are not going to retaliate the way they expect. Doing it the enemy’s way will only make it worse.

Prov 20:3 NKJV - It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel. Anyone can get into an argument and most times it is over something petty and selfish. We find it so easy in our culture to throw out anything that is considered an inconvenience or causes us a little aggravation. We scream for what we want and in turn don’t want to let others have their rights because they annoy us.

There is a lot of freedom of speech infringement going on as people start crying about hate speech. I do not have to agree with every belief you have and you do not have to agree with mine. I would like that those that disagree could have intelligent conversations to understand the other point of view better. Bringing up our thoughts on abortion, gay rights, religion and politics sometimes leads to ducking for cover as the words fly. Whatever happened to true debates where you could relish the intellect and presentation of it to the point of being able to adjust your own opinion? Most of the time, I’m tuning debates out as people slam their opponents like bullies. It’s downright refreshing when a debate has minimal lambasting.

God does not want us fighting amongst ourselves over selfish things. He knows that will not help us prosper in the long run. Isa 35:8 NLT says - And a main road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-hearted people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God's ways; fools will never walk there. If you are a Christian and not acting the part, everyone will see that and you will not make it onto God’s highway. Do you want others to follow you onto God’s path? Then you must make sure you are on it, as well.

Let’s show the world how to be assertive with love.