Mean and Unwise Christians

It seems that coarse language, malicious comebacks, intentional provocation to anger, nasty memes, etc., have become the language of far too many today. Politicians, media personalities, and everyday people have accepted the erosion of civility. I recently heard a pastor share on social media that using God’s name with an expletive was not only okay but also his favorite curse word. I was shocked, not by his statement, but by my lack of shock. I shrugged and rolled it off with the attitude: What’s new?

I am not here to call the world to greater civility, but the church. It seems that mean Christians have found ways to justify their meanness: I call it like I see it, I am just blunt, I am no saint, I hate him because of politics, I hate her just because… well, just because. I am not using their pronouns even if it hurts their feelings; they need to learn. I am not joining them in their delusion. Even some preachers seem to find glee in talking about hell, and that subject should always issue from a tearstained heart. Some congregations spur them on by applauding their tell-it-like-it-is demeanor. He preaches a hard Word!

Jesus dealt with people with compassion. One can love and be respectful without agreeing or condoning a lifestyle. It was Jesus who ministered to the woman at the well, who had been married five times and was living with a man, not her husband. Jesus challenged the crowd, who brought a woman caught in adultery to him, saying, ” he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Jesus let the little children come to Him. What made the children want to come to Jesus? He was loving, gentle, and approachable.

Oh yes, He could be angered, calling religious leaders serpents and sons of the devil, and even turning over tables and chasing people out of the temple. If you look closely, you find it was the religious, narrow, hardened, and heartless who felt His anger. Not the tax collector trying to see Him by climbing a tree, not the woman who came to anoint His feet, not the leper, not the sinners He was a friend to, not the soldier who had a sick daughter, no, it was the religious: the self-righteous, the proud to be holy, the self-sanitized.

People came to believe in Jesus in an atmosphere of acceptance, not of their sin, but of their person and value to God. Paul tells us:

⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:5,6  NIV

What do we not get when Paul says to be wise in acting toward those outside the church? What is not to understand that our actions and speech should be full of grace? Seasoned with salt, that is, preserving, not destroying, palatable, appealing, and not repulsive.  We are not to unnecessarily antagonize and alienate others. This is not a sport of comebacks and clever put-downs; it is the work of the Lord to reach out, lift up, and encourage others toward Jesus.

I don’t have much influence, but with what I have, let me encourage you to tone it down, fast your tongue, and consider that the person you see today may only see Jesus through you.

Mean Christians, they may make it to heaven, but I don’t have to sit with them here: Okay, if I must.

Dr. James D. Allen

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