Not That Nice

 

 

When I first met my husband he was an acquaintance of one of my brothers. At dinner one night early in our relationship I said something that might lead one to think that we would be married someday.

My brother looked up from his dinner and said, “You’ll never marry him; he’s too nice.”

My immediate response was, “He is not that nice.”

Well, he is nice – but what I meant was that he was not a quiet, do and say nothing kind of nice that my brother thought he knew.

Misconceptions

Now, I am by no means comparing my husband to Jesus, only pointing out how incomplete information leads to misunderstanding. I think many have misconceptions about Jesus. Jesus is nice. He is meek. He did many compassionate things (Matthew 9:36). He healed people of illnesses. He fed them when they hadn’t eaten for a long time. He is described as the good Shepherd (John 10:11) and as gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29).

I have heard it said that when many people ask, “What would Jesus do?,” they are really wondering, “What would I do if I were Jesus?” If the only truths we know about Jesus are that He is meek and compassionate, we will surely get the answer to this question wrong.

Not That Nice

In Matthew 15 the Pharisees ask Jesus why His disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate as was the tradition of the elders. Jesus immediately came back asking them why they broke God’s commandments. He went on to say, ”You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” (Matthew 15:7-9)

Jesus was talking to religious men. They were in leadership among the Jews. Jesus rebuked them loud and clear (do you think maybe He raised His voice?) and in front of others. There are few Christians willing to imitate or teach others to follow Jesus in this way.

He was not afraid to call sin, sin. He was not afraid to rebuke evil ways. (Matthew 4:17, 9:4, 16:24; Mark 12:24; Luke 9:41, 62; John 2:15, 8:44)

Yet Pastors or teachers who do this today are considered harsh and cold. Our teaching has mostly been that Christians are to be nice. We are confused about what is judgmental and what is wise. We are lax in our practice of hating sin. We think God hates no one when the Bible clearly says that God hates the evil doer. (Psalm 5:5)

Reconsider Any Misconception

I pray you will read the verses and see that Christ was, indeed, a kind and compassionate Man when the circumstances called for these. He was also a confrontational, truth loving, zealous for righteousness, and God honoring Man.

The next time you or I hear the question, “What would Jesus do?” can we honestly look at Him and try to discern what He would do – not consider what we would do if we were Him?

If we ask Him He will surely tell us! He is that nice.