Today's segment of The Bible Boldness Experiment featured Hebrews 13:6, "So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I shall not fear man."
Most people have become accustomed to my having writing on my face by now, so the level of reactions I've been getting has tapered off a bit. However, I catch people looking, taking a second glance, even asking me to turn so that they can read the entire verse. It's not a pleasant reaction every single time, but most people aren't rude about it. If they don't like it, they most often simply nod and carry on. If they do like it, they will generally smile or say an encouraging word.
This verse makes me think about what men do. Not exactly men, as in males, but humans in general. The sort of pain we as humans cause to other humans is atrocious, isn't it? I recall, in fifth grade, we watched a video one of the first days of school, about bullying. In the video, there was a little boy who was relentlessly bullied, and there were very few people who even wanted to stick up for him, let alone actually did something. No one ever stood up for him, no one ever tried to keep him from being bullied. They all just stood by and watched. In the end of the video, the bullies were trying to force the boy to eat a chocolate bar that had dirt all over it. They were chasing him, and he was trying to avoid them. He tripped and fell, and his fall took him tumbling into a busy street, where he was presumably hit by a car. The video ended with a shot of his tennis shoe lying in the road.
This video sticks out in my mind even though I would've been ten when I watched it. I remember thinking that it was strange that he was bullied. I wondered why they were mean to him. There was no obvious reason; he wasn't handicapped, he wasn't of a minority race, he wasn't dressed in ragged clothing. He seemed to me like an ordinary little boy.
What never occurred to me at the time was the thought of where God was in this little boy's life. When I chose this verse for today, that thought did occur to me. What did the little boy in the video know about Jesus?
It's easy for us to say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear man.
But in the heat of a moment when someone is picking at our most well-hidden scabs, the wounds that we don't want anyone to see, it's a lot harder to brush off what man is saying. We as Christians have been taught our own self-worth. We have that blessing in our lives, where many do not. But that doesn't mean that there aren't times when we, too, feel alone and abandoned.
In sixth grade, I had to ride a bus where I was referred to as a "rich little white b**** who couldn't get her shoes dirty" because my parents insisted that the bus pick me up at my house instead of allowing me to walk to the top of my streets to catch the bus at 7:30 in the morning.
Bullying is senseless. It's often words that, looking back, aren't even true. But they hurt. They sting and they burn and they create scars that sometimes take years to heal.
As Christians, we should be the ones who do take a stand against a bully, even if we aren't the ones being bullied. Sometimes, that is one of the hardest things to do. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes that bully is a friend, someone who has always been nice to you but who is now being quite the opposite to someone else.
We have a responsibility to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That's why we are here, right? So when you see someone being bullied, shouldn't you be the one to step up and say something? Be the change, and do not fear man.
Always, Cassie
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