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Overboard Blog

Living the extraordinary life of faith!

Filtering by Tag: Bullies

Bullies (2 of 2)

joeacast

While people are still processing the suicide of a 12-year-old Florida girl over apparent bullying, today news comes of another school shooting. Early reports indicate that bullying may have led a young middle school boy to pull a gun out in class, killing one teacher and wounding two other students. No official reports have been released but some who knew the young man (who also was killed, though police say they did not fire upon the student) say he was a victim of bullying.  

Thursday we took at look at one of the realities of bullying: the world is in desperate need of Savior. Today we’ll look at the second reality: the world is in desperate need of Christians who will live like their Savior.

 

There are far too many Christians who pay lip service to Jesus, but don’t back up their words with actions. Jesus didn’t have time for those kinds of “followers” and writers like Paul, James, John and Peter spoke harshly against those who would profess Jesus with their mouths but fail to convey Him with their lives. James wrote the following:

 

“But some will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James 2:18

 

“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26

 

James is message is so clear: don’t claim you know Jesus with what you say, if you don’t plan to back it up with how you live. In other words, the world needs to see Christians who are striving to live like their Savior.

 

As a young youth pastor, just a couple years into my first ministry, a young man passed away in the community. He and several friends had gone to a party and all of them participated in underage drinking and were all substantially intoxicated. After the party, the girl who was “least drunk” agreed to drive home while two other passengers hopped in the car.

 

On the way home, the drunk teenage girl crossed a center line and struck another vehicle head on while driving on a small, two-lane, country highway. Her two passengers were killed. One instantly, and one several weeks later after several surgeries and medical procedures were unable to bring the young man out of his coma.

 

In the aftermath, several students talked about how they wished they had spoken up. I remember one young lady in particular who had been at the party, who had watched her three drunk friends head out to the car, and who said nothing though she was sober and knew their choice was a bad one. She was rattled with guilt.

 

I wonder what would have happened in Florida last month, if one student had stepped in and tried to live like Jesus. If one student had offered a little hope to a girl being overwhelmed by evil, I wonder if this story could have been different. Jesus was reaching out to people all the time, stepping into their heartache, and their pain, in order to offer hope. The world needs a Savior, and the world is in desperate need of Christians who will live like their Savior.

 

A few weeks ago my wife offered hope to a struggling young lady (read that story here). But how many times do you and I see some injustice, some deep pain inflicted on another human being, and we walk by as though it’s none of our business, or as though you and I don’t have the message of hope that is needed? Helping people is messy. Engaging hurting people will take up your time, sometimes your money, and always your energy and sympathy.

 

But isn’t the price worth it?

 

Let’s help put an end to bullying by living out our faith with actions. Let’s stop sitting passively on the side while others suffer, and step into the messiness of helping others just as our Savior did. The world needs Jesus, and often, the way they will find Him is through the lives of His followers who choose to live as He did. Will you help?

 

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Bullies (1of 2)

joeacast

If you’ve been following the news over the past few weeks, you’ve probably read the tragic story of Rebecca Sedwick, the 12-year-old girl who took her life after severe bullying. The South Florida 7th grader had been mercilessly assaulted by as many as 15 other girls, being attacked verbally and seemingly endlessly. After months of abuse, changing schools and trying to develop a new schedule and routine, Rebecca climbed a tower, jumped and took her life in total despair. I’ve worked with teenagers for over 17 years and nothing breaks my heart more than when a student is overcome by despair. The questions and heartache that are left for others to sort through is overwhelming, and the question of “why” and the blame of “who” become all-consuming thoughts. Why would anyone terrorize a young lady so ruthlessly? Who’s to blame for this? What family dynamics in all these kids are in need of attention? What kind of a home does a child grow up in who would attack a peer to this level? What role or responsibility does social media play in this? Reportedly, one of the suspects in the case had a FB post after the suicide that read, in summary, that she didn’t care that Rebecca had taken her life.

When I look back over my life, I’ve certainly been bullied. And if I’m honest, I’ve also been the bully. It’s so easy to take advantage of someone else who is smaller, slower, weaker, dumber, uglier or less [insert your strongest trait here] than yourself. Bullying is hard-wired into our sin nature, and has become a part of our DNA. It seems so obvious when we see it in young people, but that’s only because we’ve learned how to mask it and make it socially acceptable as adults.

The reality of bullying, however, does not excuse it, nor does it ease the suffering it inflicts. Instead, it reminds us all of two essential truths:

  1. The world is in desperate need of a Savior.
  2. The world is in desperate need of Christians, who will live like their Savior.

In John 8, a woman is brought to Jesus who was “caught in the act of adultery.” This was spiritually bullying at its finest. You see, these men through this woman, naked and ashamed, at the feet of Jesus in order to make Jesus authorize her death. Why? The Old Testament Law required that a person caught in the act of adultery should be severely punished. So how was this bullying?

First off, notice what isn’t present in this scene? The guy. If she was “caught” in the act of having sex with someone who wasn’t her husband, where was the guy she was caught with? It is very difficult to commit adultery without an accomplice. These religious leaders didn’t care about having a relationship with God, they cared about rules and regulations. They cared about policies and procedures and they put their religion over relationship (when really, the two work hand in hand!).

Jesus of course, knows precisely what’s going on. So He turns the tables on the bullies. He declares, “Yep, she is guilty. So, whichever one of you guys is without guilt, go ahead and pick up a stone and let her have it!” One by one the bullies realize they are all guilty, so they drop their rocks leaving the woman alone with Jesus. And here’s the catch: Jesus was without sin. Jesus was the only one who had legal authority to cast stones at this woman. And what was His response? Two fold:

  1. “Where are your accusers?” The bullies have left, they no longer accuse you and neither do I. Jesus offered her forgiveness.
  2. “Go and sin no more.” Forgiveness isn’t permission to keep sinning (adultery). Jesus rescued her, physically from the bullies, and spiritually, from sin.

In my next post, I want to address the second essential truth, that the world needs Christians who will live like their Savior. But this first truth is foundational: The world needs a Savior! I want bullying to end. I want Rebecca Sedwick’s unnecessary to death to be the last bullying casualty ever. I want parents to step up and guide, caution and punish their children when they bully others. I long for families to experience healing when bullying has struck close to home. I don’t want to spend another day aching for the loss of innocence or the loss of life because of the heartless actions of evil people.

But the only time that world will exist, is when Jesus rules perfectly here on earth. That time is coming, and until then, He must rule in hearts for people to change. He changes people because He can offer them what no one else can: the freedom that comes from forgiveness, and the ability to enter into a personal relationship with God.

I long to be a zealot for that cause. When I speak to the hearts and minds of the 11, 12 and 13-year-old students I work with each week during the summer, I want to convey to them the hope that Jesus offers. I hope that my daily interactions promote hope and healing, not spiritual beating or bullying.

Will you be a conveyor of the hope of Christ? Will you step out of the boat and engage people around you with Jesus? Bullying isn’t going away, but either is Jesus. You can make a difference in one person’s life, by offering them true hope.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!