Too many people who call themselves Christians have a perverted view of strength.

They equate being proud, angry, loud, aggressive, insulting, retaliatory, impulsive, impatient, mean, ruthless, hard-hearted, violent and unforgiving to being strong…

While equating being humble, meek, quiet, patient, kind, gentle, self-controlled, merciful, willing to yield, soft-hearted, forgiving and turning the other cheek to being weak.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ^23 [a]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

James 3:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

On social media and verbally, people brag about how easy it is for them to…

Cut people off…

Hold onto a grudge…

Revert back to their less patient, less forgiving, more hard-hearted and ready to ‘strike-back’ self.

They say, “You don’t know who I used to be” with pride rather than regret.

They boast, “I haven’t always been saved”.

They assert, “I can come down to your level.”

They lament about not being able to ‘cuss you out’, and brag about how they would have ‘back in the day’.

They infer that in some situations, they have to let Satan handle it instead of God through their behavior.

All-the-while these people who claim to be in the Body of Christ are impressed by people who ‘keep it real’ and say ‘just what’s on their mind’, even though the word of God prohibits that behavior…

Proverbs 29:11 (NKJV)

¹¹ A fool vents all his feelings,^[a]
But a wise man holds them back.

When called out on either engaging in or celebrating overly assertive behavior that clearly doesn’t meet God’s expectations, they quickly want to call out Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) turning over money changers in the temple…as if that was an example of strong behavior, but allowing Himself to be beaten and hung on the cross wasn’t.

But, even when the Lord was turning over money changers, He didn’t strike one person. New Testament Christians love to revert to the violent Old Testament to justify their visceral behavior rather than the New Testament that doesn’t give ONE example of Jesus allowing us to violently respond…

Matthew 5:38-40 (NLV)

³⁸ “You have heard that it has been said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not fight with the man who wants to fight. Whoever hits you on the right side of the face, turn so he can hit the other side also. ⁴⁰ If any person takes you to court to get your shirt, give him your coat also.

When challenging so-called ‘strong words’, too many people mention when Jesus was calling the Pharisees hypocrites, a brood of vipers and sharply rebuking them, as if remaining silent before Pilate wasn’t strength.

People brag, “MY CUT-OFF GAME IS SO STRONG!”

People are competitive about how assertive and aggressive they can be to ‘get ahead’ in the world.

What if people bragged, “MY FORGIVENESS AND KINDNESS GAME IS SO STRONG!”

What if people were competitive about how gentle and willing to yield they can be to ‘get ahead’ in the Kingdom of God?

God doesn’t conform to the demands of our culture and standards…

We conform to His.

Matthew 5:5 (NKJV)

⁵ Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the ^[a]earth.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

We live in a highly interactive world. Everyone has a platform, especially through social media, to express themselves. We interact with one another in our families. On your jobs. In our schools. As the bible says, “as we go out and as we come in”, we are almost always interacting with someone.

Whoever is reading this is interacting with me right now. What I’m writing right now may be foolishness to you. You may consider it stupid. You may consider it offensive. If so, after reading you have a choice. Do I respond? Or, do I just move on? And, thus to the crux of my short message here…

When you hear something. When you read something. When someone comes ‘head on’ to you with something that you consider FOOLISHNESS…what do you do?

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SOME FOOLISHNESS DOES NOT DESERVE A RESPONSE, WHILE OTHER FOOLISHNESS DEMANDS ONE.

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Some foolishness would die if we would just allow it. While other foolishness is like a spark ready to spread like wildfire.

How do you know?

Well, you have to pray for discernment. Discernment is an aspect of wisdom, and God will grant it in abundance if you ask Him.

James 1:5  (NKJV)

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Notice how sometimes Jesus responded to those who opposed Him, and sometimes He was rather assertive.

Matthew 15:1-12  (NKJV)

15 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ² “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³ He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; ^[a] and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’^[b] 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— ⁶ then he need not honor his father or mother.’^[c] Thus you have made the commandment^[d] of God of no effect by your tradition. ⁷ Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

⁸ ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And^[e] honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
⁹ And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”^[f]

¹⁰ When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: ¹¹ Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

¹² Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

While other times, He didn’t say a word…

Matthew 27:12-14 (NKJV)

¹² And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.

¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” ¹⁴ But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

 1 Peter 2:23  (NKJV)

²³ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

 But, when you DO respond, remember this…

Respond in wisdom.

Respond with reason.

And, please don’t respond in your raw emotions.

We must realize when we are planting a seed of righteousness, and a seed of foolishness.

Proverbs 29:11  (NKJV)

¹¹ A fool vents all his feelings,^[a]
But a wise man holds them back.

 BE BLESSTIFIED!