What Bullying is All About

We live in an age of incivility. But is it any worse than it used to be? Maybe not. Decades ago when I was in junior high, I had to endure mean-mouthed ridicule almost daily. It was a part of what school was all about. Only a strong kid could emerge emotionally unscarred from the years of scoffing and scorning for how fat or skinny you were, names that rhymed with your last name, the form of your teeth or how well-built you were or weren’t. The only difference between then and now is that back then it didn’t have a name. Today it’s labeled as bullying.

I accepted Christ as my savior during those years, and I remember that the very first verses I hung onto and that meant something to me were Ps. 34:12-16. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?  Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.  Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.  The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.  The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Can you see why those verses would stick to someone living through the bullying  junior high years? If my ninth grade friends will pull out their old yearbook, I’ll bet they will find that I signed it with Ps. 34:12-16.

As we’ve gone through 1 Peter, we’ve been reminded regularly that the theme is “Be ye holy for I am holy.” Peter keeps bringing up ways we can be holy, and wouldn’t you know, he quotes my verses from Psalm 34. Here, let’s compare.

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:  Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter 3:10-12)

What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?  Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.  Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.  The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.  The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. (Psalms 34:12-16 )

It turns out the advice to be nice is good through the ages. Politeness was necessary in David’s day, in Peter’s day and in our day.

Peter was on a mission of holiness through civility. He encourages us to be polite and courteous various places. Remember in 1 Pet 2:1 he says Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking.

Bullying must be part of the fall. You know why? Because Satan is the father of those who don’t know the Lord, and here’s what Satan is all about: 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. (John 8:44)

That’s how we know bullying won’t go away in our lifetime. But for those of us who are Christians… we are to live opposite lives Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.  Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. Be holy, for He is holy.