Overrating Nice
Good Morning,
Considering the upcoming and past elections, I am thinking about the word NICE. (You ladies, hold on to your hats and do not burn me alive over this lesson.) Nice is simply overrated!
Look at the great Bible men…. MEN – some were downright mean. Notice this verse:
Numbers 13:25 “And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.”
The Proverbs demand that we contend with the wicked – yes, “CONTEND!”
Proverbs 28:4 “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.”
We are all taught to be nice and to be kind, and I am in favor of that until we are pushed into a corner by evil – this is the point at which our nation has reached. Not only Old Testament people were not "NICE."
John the Baptist was harsh in his preaching:
Matthew 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Jesus was not always nice in His accusations toward the wrong crowd.
Matthew 12:34 “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Speaking of our Lord's words, look over Matthew 23; Jesus was quite harsh, accused folks, and called names.
Matthew 23:33 “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell.”
John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Look at the calling of Jeremiah; it was four to two negative over positive:
Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
Does anyone remember the president who said, "Speak softly but carry a big stick?" It is often the harsh, hard, mean guy who delivers from evil and builds something wonderful; the folks then forget who carried them to the place of peace and bliss. They choose a soft-mannered guy to follow the mean guy, and ruin follows. It happened with Charles Spurgeon, Winston Churchill and many of the great preachers in our lifetime.
Young people who are saved, trained, and guided to a useful life under the leadership of a “mean ol' preacher” will often marry and move to the church of a "NICE" pastor. Forgetting that their very life is owed to someone who will live Hebrews 1:9 “…loved righteousness and hated iniquity."
Mothers, you need to keep a solid husband and father around who is not feminine! Kids need a strong man in their lives. Do not run off that man who is NOT a woman. Real men are NOT WOMEN! In this soft, be nice, never-get-punched-in-the-nose, never-punch-someone-in-the-nose world, a child is growing up to be the courageous warrior. This soldier is being trained to stand against the evils of this world, to fight in a real battle, or even to fight against the pressure of backslidden deacons or members urging for worldly music in the church?
What happened to a fear of dad or reverence for husband?
Proverbs 30:17 “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.”
Do you remember the days when a mom could give her children a "LOOK" and the wrong action stopped? That is not "NICE." What ever happened to fear of mom? Historically, dad or mom could just look or snap their fingers and children would stop frozen in their tracks. We have overrated nice!
We all know the verse that says to not call anyone a fool, but Paul did it and so did God.
Luke 12:20 “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
1 Corinthians 15:36 “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:”
Paul corrected Peter publicly, John called many names in the books of 2 John and 3 John.
We do not need to vote for a nice man, but a strong man who will fight evil in this land and protect our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. After that, a man strong enough to stay out of our business! I do not care how nice a president is, I care about how right he is.
While growing up, we were to avoid fighting if possible, but my dad told me that if there was no way to avoid a fight that I should be the first one to hit the other guy, and to hit him fast and as many times as possible – then run. That brought about a peaceful life.
One last verse for the advocated of “NICE:"
Proverbs 25:23 “The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.”
When someone starts criticizing and slandering, we ought to look angry not nice.
Pastor