“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”

Bullying has become serious.  We are watching it being called out and addressed all over our culture.  But, still it happens and sometimes it is condoned because more people support it than those who are being bullied. I read a great book called “Mindset” by Stanford Professor, Carol Dweck.  She explores all kinds of mindsets and calls out the bullying mindset as one to recognize and understand, because we all have a little bit of a bully in us.  She describes bullying this way: “Bullying is about judging.  It’s about establishing who is more worthy or important.” She goes on to say that the more powerful judge the less powerful; “They judge them to be less valuable human beings, and they rub their faces in it on a daily basis. And it’s clear what bullies get out of it.  They get a a boost in self-esteem. It’s not that bullies are low in self-esteem, but judging and demeaning others can give them a self-esteem rush. Bullies also gain social status from their actions. Other may look up to them and judge them to be cool, powerful or funny.  Or, may fear them.  Either way, they’ve upped their standing.”  Where we work, we all probably know a bully.  They know they are as much of a bully as we know they are.  But, it is only when they are called out, or ignored that they might consider changing, or better yet, change their employment.  The one thing we should never do, unless we want more bullying to occur, is to celebrate them by encouraging, imitating them, or laughing at their bullying words and actions. They feed on how the rest of us react.

Jesus was such the opposite of a bully. In fact, he was and is the champion of the bullied. What are we doing in our work places that we are known as the protectors, care-takers and supporters of those who can’t fare for themselves against the bullies?  There is a crease in the culture moment right now when the “brilliant jerks” are being called out and marginalized.  This can be our moment to be ones who shines a bright light in the opposite direction of the bullies!

Reference:  Matthew 25:40 (New Living Translation)