All of us have either faced or observed a bully in action, maybe in school, at home, at work, or in government. We certainly know a bully when we see one. They dominate, demean, and seek to control others. They want attention, admiration, and fealty. Their targets fear the consequences of not submitting. Yet despite their scary appearance, bullies respond to Christly love.
We can even bully ourselves, which begins to explain the mental nature of bullying. But if man—the male and female of God’s creating—is the spiritual image of God, then how can anyone be made to think otherwise? It could only seem to happen through bullying by mortal mind, the false belief in a mind apart from God.
The first chapter of the Bible states that man is made in the image of God and that all He created is “very good.” But threats of sickness, accident, suffering, and death are constantly being impressed upon us. If you don’t do this (fill in the blank), bad things will happen. Mortal mind operates like the mafia running a protection racket. And as with the mafia, getting in is a lot easier than getting out. You can’t run, you can’t fight, so what’s left?
