Love Is Not Rude

Alba 11-30-2025

LOVE IS NOT RUDE

I Corinthians 13:5

After spending 3 ½ hours at the Department of Motor Vehicles enduring the long lines, rude clerks and insane regulations, a man stopped at a toy store to pick up a gift for his son. He brought his selection, a baseball bat, to the cash register. “Cash or charge?” the clerk asked. “Cash!” the man snapped. Then apologizing for his rudeness he explained, “I’ve spent the afternoon at the motor vehicle bureau.” The clerk sweetly asked, “Shall I gift wrap the bat, or are you going back there?” If we are not careful, it is easy to be rude.

Recently we were watching an old re-run on TV of Andy Griffith in Mayberry. The story centered around Andy's son Opie and a new kid in town. Opie was cleaning things out of the garage and told the other boy that by doing that he was earning a 25 cent allowance. The other boy made fun of Opie saying he should get an allowance without any work. And if he didn't get what he wanted to start crying or have a fit.

Opie thought he would try that, and went to Andy and said he didn't want to work for his allowance, and that he should be getting 75 cents because he knew that was what the other boy was getting. Andy said no. So Opie tried the tactics of the other boy and first held his breath. That didn't work. Then he started to act like he was crying. That didn't work either. So Opie went to the next level he had been taught by the other boy and started to stomp his feet. And when that didn't work he laid on the floor and started to kick and cry. Andy was confused by the way Opie was acting, but held fast and still refused to change the allowance and the work needed to receive it. As the show progresses, Andy learns that all this rude behavior that Opie was displaying came from the influence of this new boy in town. By the end of the show that boy's father, who had been giving in to his son's demands, realized the error of his ways and made some corrections. And Opie realized that his rude behavior was wrong and became obedient to Andy, and accepted his 25 cent allowance and the work that went with it.

But how would you feel, if as a parent, someone, anyone, were to encourage your child to become rude and disobedient. (You might say that your child could do that well enough on their own.) But, if someone else was egging your child on to act that way, rude and disobedient, I am sure you would not appreciate it.

That's what many feel has happened in the news lately. You may have seen that recently members of congress put a video together aimed at the CIA, FBI and the military telling them they do not have to obey illegal orders, implying that such orders have been given. But in interviews, those who were in the video admitted that they knew of no illegal orders. Reaction to this was swift, saying it was a call to disobedience in the ranks and bordered on sedition, and was even encouraging insurrection. Once again, the divide in our country's politics is on display.

When you watch these politicians on TV, rude remarks have gone both ways. But lately the language used has lowered civility. Many words need to be bleeped out when the news reports on what is being said. And what they call the “F-bomb” has become commonplace from some senators and congressmen. There is a rudeness that has not been there before. Pray for our country.

When looking in the Bible for examples of rudeness, my first thought was of the way some youths treated Elisha. In Second Kings chapter two it tells of how a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and the prophet Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elijah's mantle fell to Elisha who would follow in his footsteps.

But, as Jesus said in Matthew 13:57, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” So Elisha didn't always receive the honor due him. In the New Living Translation in II Kings 2:23 it says, “Elisha left Jericho and went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, a group of boys from the town began mocking and making fun of him. 'Go away, baldy!' they chanted. 'Go away, baldy!'” You talk about rude! This gang of boys are at the top of the rude list. Other translations quote the taunt and mocking of the boys saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” That has been taken to mean that just as Elijah was taken up into heaven, if Elisha was as good as the prophet he followed, he should prove it by going to heaven the same way.