Someone sent me a dirty joke in a text as though she thought I would laugh at it. She does not know me at all or she would know I am not pleased with dirty jokes.
I sent the message back to her that I will look to God for my wisdom rather than through dirty jokes. I have not heard from her since. Sadly this was a person who would consider themselves a Christian and attends church regularly.
These narcissists think they know someone based on their own idea of life not on the character of the other person. They think we are just like them and when they find out we are not then we are the enemy.
Galatians 4:16-17 "16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.…"
When the narcissist discover we are different from what they thought we were, they are confused and choose to retain their false idea of us. These people treat us as though we are worse than they in some way to elevate their own special illusion of themselves.
When we see this happening the best response is a short one as led by the Holy Spirit and to remove ourselves. We are living in a crude world now in which even the media does not sensor their language or news stories to protect the sensibilities of the hearers.
Many Christians today take on the crude ways and language of the world so as not to be ignored or minimized as a person.
Very few people care anymore about the impact of their actions or words. If they want to do or say something they do it and then become angry if called out to clean up their language. Now, I am not talking about unbelievers, we expect the world to be crude, I am talking about those who call themselves Christian who think talking and acting like the world somehow makes them more influential with the world.
Proverbs 4:24
"Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you."
We are not called to be like the world to win them, just the opposite, we are called to be a representation of the character of Christ.
Let's be honest, the only reason a "Christian" wants to act like the world is not to win them, but rather to be loved by the world. The excuse to "be like the world to win them" is a lie and patently against the Word of God.
1 John 2:15-17
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
God never told us to be careful not to offend, that lie comes from the devil. The devil wants to ruin our testimony by demonstrating we can be as crude as the unbeliever and still be a Christian. This is cultural Christianity at its worst.
When a crude "Christian" is called out for their language and becomes angry over it then we see the rebellious heart of that person. Their anger at rebuke is on them not on us.
There is another lie the secular are promoting, that is that if someone becomes angry someone else must have made them that way. The truth is that every person who becomes angry chooses to do it to manipulate and intimidate others because of their own guilt over sin.
The only anger a born again believer should experience is when someone blasphemes God, then we defend His honor not our own.
Christianity in our time has been watered down, maligned and coaxed into false mantras in order to preserve friendships with the world.
James 4:4
"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
Many teachings and rules in the modern church are not from God but from psychology. They do not reflect the heart of God nor do they match pitch with the Bible. We should reject ideas and teachings that are counter to the Word of God. In order to do this, we must be determined to make Christ first in our lives above anything and anyone else.
