Thou Shalt Not Be A Jerk Quotes

A temptation of our culture is the need to debate and comment on every single event. Sometimes, wisdom is evident in silence. Sometimes, silence is necessary for sanity.

If we want to be a people who bring hope and healing to a broken culture, with the message of Jesus, we must be willing to scoot over to make room at the table for the untouchables, no matter who they might be.

The Jesus I follow is not the emperor arriving on a chariot, but the humble King arriving on a donkey. The all-powerful Lord who chooses a different way, who comes to serve. The Jesus I follow made deliberate efforts to get to know and befriend those who were shunned by society. The Jesus I follow did not have a home, and challenged people to not follow the law, but to live into a new life, a new way of thinking, to bring forth the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

To devalue the life of another, to be a jerk, is counter to the kingdom. To be a jerk, to revel in earthly shouting matches, sells short the radically different way of Christ. It’s a poor representation of Christianity and also a foolish political move. Before all of our best arguments, let’s first show love. That’s what we’re supposed to be known for, after all.

Much is made about the right to vote and the importance of election days. However, if we reduce civic engagement to a singular vote every two or four years, we are part of the problem. Yes, get out and vote. But don’t just cast a vote. Embody your faith. Serve your neighbors. Advocate for the last and the least. Share the gospel. Work for the common good. Pursue justice. Seek the peace of your city.

Nonviolence means that we will not return evil for evil. It means we will turn the other cheek. We will love our enemies. And yet it does so bravely, leaning forward into the conversation no one is allowing us to have—and speaking up for matters of justice. For matters of equality. To make things right that are broken. Nonviolence is not an invitation to be trampled on. Rather, it requires us to believe that God’s ways are more powerful than ours.

I believe every single man, woman, and child—including the pre-born—is created in the image of God. I believe in the sanctity and dignity of life from womb to tomb. Not only babies’ lives, but also the lives of their mothers. Not just our lives, but their lives. Not just American lives, but Syrian lives. Not just Christian lives, but Muslim lives. To be pro-all-life is to acknowledge the systemic injustice that operates against indigenous and black and brown people in our culture. To be pro-all-life is to be broken by the fact that LGBTQ youth are three to six times more likely to attempt suicide. 16 And the list goes on …

All at once, something wonderful happened, although at first, it seemed perfectly ordinary. A female goldfinch suddenly hove into view. She lighted weightlessly on the head of a bankside purple thistle and began emptying the seedcase, sowing the air with down. The lighted frame of my window filled. The down rose and spread in all directions, wafting over the dam’s waterfall and wavering between the tulip trunks and into the meadow. It vaulted towards the orchard in a puff; it hovered over the ripening pawpaw fruit and staggered up the steep faced terrace. It jerked, floated, rolled, veered, swayed. The thistle down faltered down toward the cottage and gusted clear to the woods; it rose and entered the shaggy arms of pecans. At last it strayed like snow, blind and sweet, into the pool of the creek upstream, and into the race of the creek over rocks down. It shuddered onto the tips of growing grasses, where it poised, light, still wracked by errant quivers. I was holding my breath. Is this where we live, I thought, in this place in this moment, with the air so light and wild? The same fixity that collapses stars and drives the mantis to devour her mate eased these creatures together before my eyes: the thick adept bill of the goldfinch, and the feathery coded down. How could anything be amiss? If I myself were lighter and frayed, I could ride these small winds, too, taking my chances, for the pleasure of being so purely played. The thistle is part of Adam’s curse. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” A terrible curse: But does the goldfinch eat thorny sorrow with the thistle or do I? If this furling air is fallen, then the fall was happy indeed. If this creekside garden is sorrow, then I seek martyrdom. I was weightless; my bones were taut skins blown with buoyant gas; it seemed that if I inhaled too deeply, my shoulders and head would waft off. Alleluia.

There are certain unwritten rules in high school. High on the list, close to the top, is one that says. ‘Thou shalt not have sex with your best friend’s girl’. - A simple rule, understood by all. - Danny Carrs totally ignored it. Another rule even higher on the list says: ‘Thou shalt not beat the crap out of the star quarterback two days before the play-off game.’ I sort of ignored that one. I figured it made us even. Needless to say, the jerks at school didn’t see it my way.

From a political perspective, cultural Christianity is when our theology is held captive by our politics rather than our politics being informed and even transformed by our theology.

To be a Christ follower is to be faithful amid tension. To stay engaged, to remain hopeful, to love anyway, to walk with integrity, and to bear witness to the love, mercy, and grace of Christ. This is becoming increasingly difficult, but such is our call as followers of Jesus. It’s not merely what we believe but also how we engage.

Nonviolence is not an invitation to be trampled on. Rather, it requires us to believe that God’s ways are more powerful than ours.

If we’re not willing to cross the street to love our neighbor, we have no right to be enraged at national politics. But if we’re about kingdom work in our neighborhoods and cities, we can help to bring about positive change nationally.

We must consider how we tend to align politically and then question our tribes. But more than that, this must be personal. We must be willing to pick apart what we believe. We must think independently. We must pursue truth. We must watch what we believe and what we share. Without this critical thinking, we do not know our blind spots.

To be a Christ follower is to be faithful amid tension. To stay engaged, to remain hopeful, to love anyway, to walk with integrity, and to bear witness to the love, mercy, and grace of Christ.