The highest virtue in evangelicalism today: "Be nice!"

"Speaking the truth in love..." Ephesians 4:15

Few words are celebrated in modern culture more than nice.
Nice people avoid conflict.
Nice people never offend.
Nice people keep the peace, affirm others, and make everyone feel comfortable.

But the New Testament never commands believers to be nice. It commands something far greater.

It calls us to be truthful, loving, holy, kind, courageous, gracious, humble, and faithful. Those virtues often produce kindness, but they do not always produce comfort.
Sometimes genuine love requires difficult conversations.
Sometimes grace must be accompanied by rebuke.
Sometimes faithfulness demands the courage to stand alone.

This distinction is more than semantics.
It reveals the difference between a cultural virtue and a biblical one.

Modern niceness often seeks acceptance.
Biblical love seeks transformation.

Niceness avoids correction and confrontation.
Biblical love pursues another person's eternal good--even when the truth is painful to hear.

That is precisely why the life of Jesus cannot be reduced to the modern ideal of being "nice."
He was never tolerant of sin or error.
He was infinitely compassionate, yet utterly uncompromising.
He was perfectly gentle, yet astonishingly bold.
No one has ever embodied love more completely, yet no one ever confronted sin more fearlessly.

Remarkably, the sharpest words Jesus ever spoke were directed toward self-righteous religious leaders who distorted God's truth and shut the doors of the kingdom in people's faces.

By contrast, His tenderness toward broken sinners is breathtaking.
He touched lepers whom society considered untouchable.
He welcomed little children into His embrace.
He defended the woman caught in adultery from an unlawful execution, while calling her to leave her life of sin.
He wept beside the tomb of Lazarus.
From the cross He prayed for those who crucified Him and willingly laid down His life for the very people who mocked Him.

This is the beautiful harmony of Jesus' character.

His holiness, never diminished His compassion.
His courage, never eclipsed His gentleness.
His grace, never compromised the truth.
His love, never ignored sin.

Every attribute perfectly complemented the others, because every action flowed from the perfect character of God Himself.

Perhaps that is the greatest lesson for the Church today. Our calling is not to become nicer versions of ourselves. It is to become more like Jesus.

The world desperately needs believers who are . . .
  gracious, without becoming passive;
  courageous, without becoming combative;
  compassionate, without becoming compromising;
  and truthful, without becoming harsh.
It needs Christians . . .
  whose kindness is governed by holiness,
  whose convictions are shaped by Scripture rather than public opinion,
  and whose love seeks eternal salvation rather than temporary approval.

Niceness may preserve comfort.
Truth spoken in love, changes lives.

May God deliver His people from the counterfeit Gospel of Niceness--a faith that prizes approval, above obedience; and conform us instead to the image of His Son. For in Jesus we discover that the highest virtue is not niceness, but Christlikeness: truthful, loving, holy, kind, courageous, and gracious.

The Church does not need more people who are merely nice.
It needs more people who think and act like Jesus!
(The above was AI generated.)

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You may want to watch this 15 minute video on the same topic:
"This Fake Commandment Is Destroying Christian Men"