No Means No

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

“Jada Grace, can you please come in here?”

Jada knew her mom wasn’t happy. She only used her full name when Jada was in trouble. As Jada walked into the living room and saw her mom looking through Jada’s phone text messages, she knew why.

While Jada and her friend Amara had been having a sleepover, they had sent funny video messages to their friend Isabella. “Please stop!” Isabella had asked, over and over. She was at a family event and didn’t want her phone buzzing with notifications.

Jada squirmed. She and Amara had kept sending messages and videos, telling Isabella they were spamming her. They were having fun—well, she and Amara were, anyway.

“Honey, I know you thought you were being funny and silly last night, but can you see that it was unkind to Isabella? She repeatedly asked you to stop, but you didn’t listen. Remember our conversations about how no means no?”

As Jada reread the conversation, she realized that Isabella had been increasingly irritated when she and Amara wouldn’t stop. Jada felt bad. She had made a mistake and owed Isabella an apology.

Sometimes we aren’t very good about stopping when someone says no. We have a tendency to ignore someone’s request, especially when we think the situation is funny. The thing is, we can’t truly see into someone’s mind or heart to understand how our words or actions are affecting them. So when someone asks us to stop, we must respect their request. Because we belong to Jesus, he expects us to be kind, humble, gentle, and patient with those around us. Respecting when someone says no is an important part of living the kind of life that pleases Jesus.

Things to Think About

• How do you feel when someone ignores your “no”?
• Whose “no” do you sometimes ignore? A sibling? A friend? What happens when you don’t stop?

DAILY ACT OF FRIENDSHIP

When someone says no, stop. If you aren’t sure why they are asking you to stop, kindly ask why so you can understand what was upsetting to them.