PORTRAIT OF A BULLY

Bullying is intentional aggressive behavior. It can be physical or verbal ie. psychological . It can include teasing, harassing, insulting, excluding, gossiping about, hitting, and/or even grabbing someone...IT IS SOMETHING THAT TYPICALLY CONTINUES UNLESS THERE IS INTERVENTION!

We hear a lot about bullies these days...kids that have been mercilessly picked on and abused by other kids to the point sometimes where they are so devastated that they kill themselves. HORRIBLE...it makes me absolutely sick to think of it! When I taught in public school bullying was the number one thing that I just wouldn't tolerate...AT ALL! To see kids picking on someone who they have deemed as less than just really got to me and I put a stop to it IMMEDIATELY! Did you know there is biblical principle for this? Psalm 82:4 " Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” THAT is what we are supposed to do...not sit quietly, idly by so as not to "cause trouble".

We are all smart enough to know that bullying doesn't stop with kids...it exists in the "adult" world as well.  I feel JUST nearly as strongly about adult bullies as I do kids behaving in such a horrible way with each other. I say nearly because children have NO RECOURSE if they are bullied but to depend on an adult or a brave other young person who might come to their aide...they cannot escape it as easily...BUT bullying is horrible and wrong no matter what the age!

What does God say about such things? Actually a lot, but to avoid an entire book in this post let's just look at a bit of His word and wisdom about people who bully.  Leviticus 19:18: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." OK you haters, you bullies out there...! I John 3:15 - "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." and don't get comfortable with yourselves if you think you are safe because you don't HATE the person who has been the object of your bullying...If you are not TRULY loving you are hating...COME ON! and in I John 2:9 - "Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness."  and finally for this moment in time...
Proverbs 6:16-19 - "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers." I cannot improve on that, but I want to get in the reality of it!

PEOPLE HAVE HEARTS UNDER THE SHELL OF PROTECTION THEY BUILD FOR THEMSELVES!! DO NOT BE GUILTY OF DESTROYING THE GOOD IN ANOTHER PERSON!

 

Have you ever spent time with someone who has been the victim of bullies? Kids or adults; it doesn't matter...there is a common thread in all of them...Eventually you will see in one form or another, ANGER, a REBELLIOUS ATTITUDE, BRAVADO or DEFEATED to the point of GIVING UP, an air of HELPLESSNESS, or AGRESSION. This is the danger. OFTEN the one bullied may become a bully. This happens when the bullied person has had enough. Any animal or creature in God's world that is poked at with a stick long enough will eventually strike back in some way if it doesn't stop. That is why bullying has to be stopped IMMEDIATELY! It can save a person's heart!

 

If you use your voice, your haughty eyes (YES, even a look), your ugly attitude, your disguised jealousy, your false attitude of righteousness to pick at or demean another person you are a BULLY! If this is you then you need to STOP immediately. You need to correct your behavior and in a very transparent way. GO to that person and make it right, use the steps of a good apology discussed in the previous post and make it right! Read Matt. 18, I Cor. 8...it's all in there...and there is MORE if you want to study...there is always more to help us know what is right and good to do!

 

 

 

Did you know that a group of bullies is called a mob? That is bullying that has just gone wild; when that happens INTERVENTION is a most definite course of action...very plain, very clear, very direct INTERVENTION by those who see it, is required! Once the ball of bully is rolling down that hill it is so much harder to stop! Anything BIGGER is more dangerous in this situation! STOP IT! We can't be passive, we have to be proactive!

 

God doesn't approve of this behavior, He HATES it as we read above. He expects us, as His children to be unified (Psalm 133:1, I Cor. 1:10), to love one another, to get along, to not regard any to be lower than us (Phil. 2:3)...we have to stop this mob mentality, this bullying so we can accomplish what He has asked us to do! We know this...it is the practicing of it that gets lost in the translation because we decide for ourselves what WE want, and we do that...Read Psalms 1 and following...here's a bit..."Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ...

 

Be that person that resolves to stop this kind of behavior in your world, in your church, in your circle of friends, in your family. If we all do our part MUCH can be accomplished!  Work together for good instead of wrong...be a mob of blessing for someone who has been bullied!

 

GOD BLESS!