10/18/2011
NO MORE CHRISTIAN NICE GIRLS
Conflict, none of us like it, and we will do just about anything to avoid it. As women, especially Christian women, we are culturally conditioned to be nice. In their book, No More Christian Nice Girl, authors Paul Coughlin and Jennifer Degler, PhD equate nice with fear, cowardice, and sin in disguise. Ouch! They state that women can act nice, not because of their love for people, but because they fear conflict and rejection. People-pleasing and passivity for the sake of superficial peace is wrong, and avoiding public conflict does little to deal with the internal conflict.
Meanwhile, we say yes to things we don’t want to do, and won’t say no for fear of someone being upset. All the while, seething inside at the very thought of being taken advantage of. Don’t shrink back, but speak the truth in love. Jesus did what was right; He never shaded the truth, nor walked around hoping the Pharisees weren’t mad at Him.
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear- not by heaven or by earth or
by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “yes” or “no.” Otherwise you
will be condemned. James 5:12
GIRL UP CHALLENGE: Do what’s right, not what’s nice.
Excerpt from The Girl Up 40 Day Girl Up Devotional. ($5)
