Over the last decade Christianity has battled against the culture that says that Christians must be “nice.” A lot of men and women were taught that we can never be blunt or harsh. While I believe in kindness, grace and mercy there are times when being direct is exactly what God wants, even if it sounds mean.
There are some good examples of this in the New Testament. There are times that God wants us to be direct, even if it might be offensive to the other person. I like to imagine being with Jesus or the disciples or John the Baptist and hearing them make these comments. I think I would be surprised to hear these words come out of their mouth.
1. Luke 3:7: “You brood of vipers, who warned you of the wrath to come?”
These are the first words that John the Baptist speaks to the crowd that gathers to see him in Jordan. By calling them a brood of vipers he was saying that that are children of the devil.
Read more