Two life-long business partners couldn’t get along until they were parted by death. When asked by a reporter to comment on his colleague's demise, the surviving partner said, “My mother often told me to say something good about the dead. He’s dead. Good!”

Love does not behave rudely.

1 Corinthians 13:5 (NKJV)

 

The Greek word for “behave rudely” is aschēmoneō which denotes “behaving unbecomingly or unseemly”. It is about having an unkind thought about someone and telling them about it. God does not regard us in this way. There is no greater honour God can bestow on us than the fact that He made us in His image and likeness. He called us "good" right from the beginning. The Hebrew word for "good" is tov, which implies "blessed, excellence, and valued".

God is never rude because God is love.

Jesus' compassionate and kind nature is revealed in the gospels. While women, children, the sick, outcasts, and outsiders were marginalised in his time, Jesus valued and treated them with love, dignity, and grace. The religious authorities were never treated with the same contempt that they had for others by Jesus. While He was harsh with them, He was always trying to bring them back to the love and grace of God.

That said, we must be careful not to be rude or unkind to others, especially those who live differently than we do. Unfortunately, Christians are known for being judgemental, legalistic, hypocritical, and self-righteous. If we claim to know God but do not love, we are nothing more than clanging gongs or noisy cymbals. In short, we are just annoying noisemakers.