There’s been a lot of news reports about kids and bullying. People talk about how to fix the problem or what laws to pass. And those poor kids who have committed suicide. I can only imagine how alone they must have felt—to think that there was no other way to stop it.
When I was growing up my brother had to deal with bullies. One day they would act like his friends and the next day they’d beat him up. But it was localized. It didn’t go out to all the world and color impressions of him everywhere.
Now someone dearer to me has dealt with it. For two years he has had to stand up for what’s right in the midst of threatening emails, insults, slander, and charges of heresy. And things have changed with the internet – the lies spread all over the world and there is no one to call them what they are and shut them down.
My natural instinct is to yell and scream and throw things. To start a website to answer all the ugliness—to spread the truth as far as the lies have gone.
But what would Jesus do? How did He react to slander and lies?
He said fear not… But how?
I think I have to choose to believe. Not a one-time thing. Every day—many times a day—choose to believe that …
- God is good
- He loves us
- He will not leave us alone
- He will give us strength or He will give us way out
- He will use this to bring us closer to Him and make us more like Jesus (Rom. 8:28)
It may take time. And trust. And lots of prayer. But, while we wait for His last child to come to Him, He has promised that no hurt is ever wasted.