When A Bully Pokes You In The Chest

When a Bully Pokes You in the Chest

Have you ever been bullied? I would assume that as kids we all experienced a bit of bullying. But what about as adults? As an adult, I have experienced times of being poked in the chest—times when someone tried to push me around or spoke falsely about me in public in order to get his or her way.

When people try to use pressure to oppress you so that they can have their way, what should you do? For many of us, our first instinct is to react out of anger and set things right by fighting back.

But if we are not careful, it can only get us into greater trouble. You see, reacting to bullying is being like the second guy throwing a punch on the field. The referees never see the first violation. They only see the reaction, and that’s when the yellow flag comes out.

Scripture gives us another way when someone pushes us around:

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. (Romans 12:19-21)

This is a hard ethic, I know. But the call of the Lord is to conquer evil with good. When we make this tough choice to bless those who curse us, we will resemble Christ the most.

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Romans 12:21