Bullied?

One student used the term bullied, and now everyone wants to pity the idiot who killed students in Ohio. First off, the word bully, as many other words, has been made way too vague. In my school days a bully was someone who beat up smaller kids. Nowadays they want to say that any kid who gets made fun of is being bullied. Being made fun of by idiots is a part of growing up imperfect. I was ridiculed for everything from wearing buddies (no-name shoes) to the beatup cars my parents drove, to the secondhand clothes I wore. I was taught at home and on weekends by my grandfather to have enough character to ignore the idiots. I see some of those idiots on Facebook now with broken lives, getting to see their kids every other weekend, drowning their sorrows in alcohol and drugs. And they thought I should be like them???
My dad and grandfather always told me they would turn out miserable.
Back to the shooting : It turns out, the idiot was a troublemaker himself. He was not attending the school where the shooting occurred. He was attending a nearby school with his fellow delinquents. I wonder if they'll ever tell us what got him there?
Parents, if your kid is being picked on or isolated at school, find out why. Do you still dress him like your little toddler even though he's twelve? Let me clue you in on something. Just because Junior likes to wear his hair or clothes a certain way doesn't mean he needs to. Individuality is one thing. Looking like a freak, a queer, or a nerd will not help your child. You'll never control every other kid, but you can control yours.
My kids still occasionally get told to change clothes. Not usually because they're immodest, but because they were having a bad fashion day. I guess somedays the mirror is deceiving. 
Then there are things you can't change. I can't fix my daughter's cleft lip to where you can't tell she has it. But I've given her the gift of character and she doesn't let the idiots bother her. Jakie used to be a borderline midget. Hormone shots helped some, but eventually it was puberty that got him growing upwards. We toughened him up at home. I guarantee you he heard more short jokes at home than elsewhere. Ooh, I'm the mean parent, right? No, I'm the parent of a very well adjusted young man for whom I constantly get compliments about. Men he's worked for are always impressed and often tell me so. That's called parenting. Try it sometime.
Yes, there are some things I shield my children from, but my duty is not to create a perfect environment for them. My duty is to teach them how to survive in ANY environment.

Saved?

Matthew 7:15-23 KJV

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

I can tell everyone I meet today that I am a doctor. I can use catch phrases I picked up in my limited medical training and from TV and the internet. I can even dress like a doctor and wear a stethoscope.
But I would risk the chance of having my bluff called when something happens and I'm asked to help. The talk and look may come easy, but the exercise of my training cannot be faked.

The same applies to being a Christian. Satan seeks to devour us. The lost, he wishes to keep lost. The saved, he wishes to destroy our lives and testimony.
But if we are what we claim, when called to exercise our faith, we shine as the city on the hill.
But if we are a fraud, we turn to sin and vice. Our bluff is called, and Satan has the winning hand.
Christians are not perfect, but if your fruit only shows vice, Jesus says we are to judge you as lost. Not to condemn you, you do that yourself, but to reach you with the Gospel. If you refuse, I refuse to lie about you once you are gone.

2 Peter 1:10 KJV

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Rules

People will say:

"I like driving."

But to drive, there's a lot of rules to follow.

"I like my job."

You wont have it long if you ignore the rules.

"I like cooking."

So do I, but if you throw out the rules, you might just kill your family.

"I like sports."

Really? Do I have to mention the rules? If a Family Feud survey asked, "What do we do often that has rules?" I'm pretty sure you'd get the #1 answer with Sports.

"I like church, but not all the rules."

John 15:10-11 KJV

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

The first four things have minimal significance on our lives. But the fifth has eternal consequence.

So we get billboards in nearly every city claiming they are the Church for the unchurched. They range widely in style and doctrine. Some claim to have no doctrine. That's just ignorance.

People seem to only accept God on their own terms. So church after church lays aside God's commandments to draw a crowd and reach a segment of society that rejects rules.

You'll say that at least they're reaching them. But with what? Jesus is clear that a saved person will have no problem with the rules, so are you telling me that once someone is saved in a watered down church, they'll head to a good New Testament Church? No, they stay with the watered down Gospel. They stick with the poor excuse of a preacher in his Bermuda shorts, or cowboy vest, or bling-bling. He continues to tickle their ears, and they continue to enjoy it.

Then we read Matthew 7:21-23 and wonder who Jesus is referring to. In the next verse Jesus says, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock."

It's just something to think about.