Beware of Nice

Nice Pinoy houses, architecture and landscapes are always welcome. It's the Pinoy heart that we should design well--or re-design and renovate--or have it newly constructed. 

There are a lot of nice people around, despite what people say about the world having lost compassion, becoming cold and all that. Though it's kinda like that--there's a terrible blight infecting good character in the world--yet, nice people still abound. Though sometimes, "nice" can be a scary thing. 

It can be a camouflage masking the real condition or intent of the heart. In the bible, Laban tried to be nice to Jacob, Delilah to Samson, Saul to David, and so on. I can imagine how Judas tried to be nice to Jesus despite the way he must have hated Jesus' nonchalance for greatness, wealth, riches and money. Nice can be tricky and dangerous.

Good Kind of Nice

Being nice has different types and levels. The good kind is when you're exercising patience and perseverance. You don't scowl when you're being patient. You smile and be nice and really keep your cool. Or at least you look unaffected. Frowning or grimacing while trying to control your anger outburst is not patience. It's rage boxed in, ready to be unboxed anytime, which I often have 😂. But thank GOD the box is firm.

I imagine Jesus being nice and smiling with Judas, despite the kind of character Judas had, very unlike the way some Jesus films portray him to be, always mad, stressed out, sad, frustrated and troubled. And that's how a lot of pastor are, especially behind the pulpit--always angry. How you see Jesus is how you live your life. No wonder a lot of them are on maintenance meds. Deadly overstress is not God's will.

Nope. I see Jesus as a happy, easy-going guy, relaxed, unbothered by things men in his time burdened themselves with, especially religious folks who kept telling people to sacrifice and punich themselves working hard for God, like the Pharisees and law teachers. I can imagine how they looked everyday, and behind the pulpit.

Jesus was especially nice to helpless or hapless people, those who had no way of repaying him back. I can easily see him smiling and patient with them. With the rich, proud and religious? Well, he probably smirked. 

Jesus said he never did anything except what he saw his Father doing. That made everything very simple and easy. After all you cannot invite people to come to you and rest if you yourself are perpetually overstresssed, pressured, moody, hot-headed, preoccupied and constantly stressed out and pressured looking for things to make happen for God. Jesus simply waited on the Father, always waiting before Him.

He grew up before HIM... [Isaiah 53.2]

I believe he just smiled at problems. One time, Peter must have looked stressed out about paying the temple tax. Jesus simply told him to go out and enjoy fishing. I can easily see Jesus smiling and calm when he said this. And when Jesus tells you to relax and take it easy like that, it's going to be supernatural. 

Well, he had times of impatience and frustrations, even depression, sometimes pissed off by the spiritual shallowness of those around him. The NIV quoted him as saying, "Are you so dull?" when the disciples didn't understand that what went out of the heart was what defiles people, not what they ate. Another instance was his rage at the temple money changers. 

But I see Jesus as someone who'd rather smile away at petty, foolish problems rather than get affected by every wrong thing that happened. I've seen pastors and superintendents get so upset and moody when the program didn't turn out as expected, or angry because of a low tithe and offering turnout--or when members didn't go to church. Jesus wasn't like that. Scripture depicts God as not easily angered, and the love chapter tells Corinthian believers how God's love is "not easily angered," [1 Corinthians 13.4-8].

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." [Psalm 86.15]

These passages alone should give us a good, even accurate picture, of how Jesus was as he dealt with every day life--cool, nice and smiling, oozing with Holy Spirit patience and self-control. 

Hidden-Agenda Nice

I suppose this sounds familiar. I mean, every housePinoy in this country is wary when someone sends them a PM asking how they are, because right after that is a request to borrow money. That's the kind of nice with ulterior motives. I'm not saying it's wrong but it's sometimes tricky and a trap. Some people do have legit money issues and are shy to open up. But their desperate situation makes them try anyway, and force themselves to borrow money. They try to be polite and nice because they're not used to borrowing money and do not want to give the impression that they're used to it. 

But the dangerous kind of nice is when people use it to draw information from you for leveraging later against you or other people--like how Delilah acted nicely towards Samson to draw out his secret. It often happens in office politics, neighborhood gossip politics, housePinoy politics, even church politics---or ESPECIALLY church politics. That's how some folks see that knowledge is power. 

Hyperlink Nice

Hyperlink nice is a cousin of hidden-agenda nice. Some nice people treat you well because they need some favors from you, nt just infos, particularly financial. They seem to be caring and loving towards you, and I always put my guards up when people overdo this. I smell something fishy hidden somewhere, foreboding ill. Sadly, I see this from other fellow pastors, treating moneyed folks better than they treat ordinary people, especially the moneyless. If you're not rich, some people may see you as a bridge to a treasure--you're a conduit, or link--and befriend you to tap to a source connected to you, like a moneyed friend or relative. It's how a hyperlink works. The link itself is not the goal, but they need to click (or tap gently) on it to get to the goal. 

Vote-Buying Nice

The first thing that comes to mind is a politician being nice so he can buy your vote during an election. Not just that. A lot of nonpoliticians are rulers. They are bosses, leaders, supervisors, masters, landlords, and what-have-you who make you their avid fan and audience. They are nice to you (and care for you) only because they expect your loyalty, applause, awe and vote. Or, the other way around--if you give them your vote of confidence, they will be nice and caring to you, and have high regard. If you don't, they treat you as insignificant, antagonistic, traitor, no good, weak, dumb or trash. That's how a lot of church denominations are.

Mekus-Mekus Nice

It's like this. Some people who started out with the good kind of nice sometimes go down one or two levels and become low-grade nice--sometimes worse--until they end up being not so nice. There's only one reason for this--the self. Getting too preoccupied with the self takes on all kinds of nice masks except the good kind of nice--except the Jesus kind of nice.

The good news is that, bad kinds of nice can also upgrade into the Jesus kind of nice. I've seen lots of nice people with selfish motives gradually transform and develop into the nice, nicer, nicest kind of nice. There are two reasons for this--earthly wisdom that comes with age, and wisdom from God accompanied by a radical transformation in Christ (a total intellectual turnaround). 

Age-wise nice is the result of doing the wrong things over again until you finally learn (often from painful lessons) and avoid the wrong things and not suffer harm again. This comes at an advanced age, very seldom at a young age. This explains why people stop vices at an old age, not because they've come to hate them, but because illnesses and suffering have made them stop. They're wise enough to know it will make them suffer again. In church, this is mistaken as "maturity" or "spiritual growth." 👀

Radical nice comes from knowing and surrendering your life to Jesus. Initially, your nice attitude is nothing but a front to make people believe you have good intentions and keep their guards down. It's all a show, a manipulation. But later, a crisis happens that leaves you with no option but to turn fully to Jesus (only in Christ is a genuine good kind of nice possible). 

Admittedly, a lot of folks who claim to be in Christ still have all kinds of wrong motives for being nice to people. Because it's all just a claim--and it's easy to claim anything. You will find a lot of people in church nice to you if you're a visitor there, for instance, because they want you to sign up for membership. And a big membership means more income for the church. Jesus never did that. He never feigned being nice just to get them to sign up. He simply said, those who have ears to hear let them hear. Simply put, if you want to follow, follow. If not, then don't. 

I don't see Jesus as a nice guy. He's Godly.

Jesus said, "Birds have nests, foxes have holes, but I don't have a nice place to offer you," or something like that. Imagine having a ministry without offering a nice church building and facilities (or sound system and musical instruments). That wasn't nice. But these are the things that ministries today offer people because they want to look nice. They offer anything but the real presence of Jesus. If Jesus is all you can offer, that isn't nice to them at all. You have to offer more--nice building, facilities, preaching, singing, music, sound system, programs, activities, etc. Jesus is not enough to them. 

Building your family (your home or what I call housePinoy) includes training up your kids to desire the Jesus kind of nice for themselves and filling your heart with it as well. It also involves having a sharp discernment for other types of nice and bewaring of them.

HEALTH FOR PINOYS WITH LOW BUDGETS

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