Mean Girls

Mean Girls was a great movie.  What's so fun about this and other movies is that we know who to hate and who to love.

The Plastics are so fun to hate because they're so bad...all bad.

Real people aren't typically like this, though.  Mean girls, for example, are sometimes wonderful and sweet in class or at home, but nasty at lunch or at sports practice.

They, like others, are real people with hurts, fears, ambitions, feelings, and dreams.

The mean girl needs to be seen as a whole person, but the trouble for the mean girl is the same.  They need to see others as whole persons.

Are you a mean girl?  I'm sure you have your reasons.  But consider that you are judging someone on one detail that you criticize.  As much as you don't want to be pigeon-hold on one detail of your life, that same is true of the other person.

You must fight your nature.

Men are told to fight their natures all the time.  The male sex drive is very strong and, without morals, guys can be lewd, sexually aggressive, and take advantage of women.  But most men learn to control themselves and channel their sexual nature toward love and marriage.  Sure there are playboys out there, but men are constantly told, directly and indirectly, to control themselves.

Girls, however, are rarely taught to fight their natures.  Their challenge is not so much strong sexuality as it is emotional manipulation.  Women are very in tune with emotions and relationships.  This can, of course, be good, but can also be used to take advantage of others.  Uncontrolled, girls by nature scheme, gossip, ostracize, criticize, and reject.

You must fight your nature.

Paul told Titus to "avoid foolish controversies because these are unprofitable and useless."  People who continue in causing divisions after being warned, are called "warped and sinful" and "self-condemned."  Granted he's talking about arguments related to Jewish law, but I think the issue of the destructive nature of petty disputes is applicable.

Animals simply follow their natures.  Humans bear the image of God, though, and one way they do this is by living unlike their natures.

Turn from your teasing, sarcasm, and rumors and be an agent for change, for love, for grace, for bringing the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.