Monday, March 27th marked another display of the inhumane actions humans can carry out. After each of these tragedies, we asked why. The specific “why” may never be known in any of these situations, but these inhumanities are brought about by previous inhumanities. Sin spreads and magnifies itself until it overwhelms. Why would we allow meanness to corrupt and destroy ourselves, our children, our communities, or our congregations?

Be nice. Do not allow meanness to enter your heart or mind. Staying away from the mean people as much as possible, their attitude will infect your heart, like cancer. When you see meanness around you, try to end it. Replacing it with kindness. Find the bad and overwhelm it with good. Never allow yourself to be led by mean thoughts or by mean people. This is not what you want to be.

How does God want us to be? What attitude would God have rule our hearts? The Holy Spirit inspired these words: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:31-32). Instead of encouraging or tolerating meanness, God says we are to put away hostilities and replace them with kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness. Kindness is commanded, and kindness is given by God. The Bible says, “envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22-24).

The world has seen enough anger and meanness. It’s long past time to end to the inhumanities that dominate humanity. Too many children have been too greatly influenced by and shaped by the meanness of people around them. Their brokenness begets more brokenness. “Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:14-15).