My wife, Jean, received an unusual gift chosen by our daughter-in-law on Mother’s Day – a cactus plant in a ceramic pot. You may wonder if this prickly offering in some way reflected how Jean was thought of, but I assure you that it did not. She is known in the family as someone who struggles to keep pot plants alive; the gift reflected care and thoughtfulness, cacti being notoriously tolerant of adverse conditions.
Expulsion
We have a family story about a cactus. When our children were very young, there was such a potted plant that we decided we no longer wanted, so I placed it outside the back door. The children went out to play, but our son, who was about three at the time, managed to stumble and sit on top of the cactus, resulting in him having multiple spines lodged in his little bottom. I remember him being a very brave boy as I put him over my lap and proceeded, with tweezers, to remove them one by one. You may imagine that when Jean returned home, I was in trouble for having left the plant where I did.
The moral of the story is that prickly things can cause hurt … prickly people do as well!
Protection
Have you ever considered why cacti have spines? Perhaps the obvious answer is to discourage animals from eating their water-rich, fleshy stems. But it seems that they also have a function of providing shade, to reduce temperature and prevent sunburn. We can similarly be prickly as a form of protection. Some people are like this most of the time, exuding an aura of unfriendliness for the purpose of discouraging human interaction and the potential challenges associated with that. For others, it is more selective, with their spines being raised like those of a porcupine when they feel under threat. How about you – are you ever prickly and, if so, in what circumstances?
Here is another question – if you are, can that ever be a godly reaction?
Indignation
Of course, we have the right to defend ourselves, but I don’t think we have the right to be prickly, reactionary, like a cactus or a porcupine. Jesus often needed to defend himself from those who were out to trip him up, or even to cause him physical harm, but I can’t think of a time when this amounted to being reactionary, prickly. Jesus countered opposition with simple truth. When the Pharisees and teachers of the law tested him with awkward questions, he didn’t become defensive but gently, if pointedly, brought their duplicity into the light by posing questions of his own. There was, of course, the clearing of the temple courts incident, but that wasn’t a reaction to a person but rather a situation. Anger as such isn’t always an ungodly response, but rather can amount to righteous indignation. We are rightly disturbed when ungodly behaviour prevails.
Fruit
Just as Jesus was strident when he turned to clear his father’s house of merchants, so there can be occasions where we need to be clear, firm and bold. But this should be the exception rather than a habit. Our normal responses need to reflect godliness, illustrating the work of the Holy Spirit in our character as outlined in Galatians 5:22,23a:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ……”
If our regular demeanour is aggressive and defensive, then that is a clear indication of a failure to allow the Spirit of God to do his work in us. If we occasionally ‘lose it’, then we will also be turning away from how God would have us be. Even under extreme provocation, we can trust God – can’t we?
Trusting
In each of the synoptic gospel accounts, we have Jesus’ instruction to his disciples about fear in relation to challenges, where he tells them (us):
“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11,12
Admittedly, this relates to authorities of one sort or another and also to opposition towards the gospel message, but I believe that we can take this as a general principle in relation to challenges to any upright behaviour on our part, in whatever context. The Spirit of God will give us the words to say – if we are walking in the Spirit and are actively trusting him. What this amounts to is that, if we react badly, if we are prickly, then surely we aren’t walking in the Spirit at that time.
Criticism
I mentioned upright behaviour, because challenges that come our way aren’t necessarily related to direct spiritual matters, and equally, our conduct may not have been upright. Someone might confront us about anything we have done, said, or failed to do. Before responding, we need to appreciate what criticism is being made, and to judge whether this arises from a misunderstanding, from a genuine fault on our part, or from some form of prejudice on the part of our accuser. If the criticism is genuine and legitimate, then our first reaction should be apologetic – we have done wrong in some way and must acknowledge that, even if there seem to be mitigating circumstances. Where this is not the case, then we can surely listen to the Holy Spirit and learn from him how to respond positively. Prickliness in this situation is a weak, natural response, and in no way a spiritual, godly one.
The effect
Prickliness has the effect of repelling people, even if it is the porcupine type that only rises when challenged. We are likely to give a prickly person a wide berth, not wanting to get too close, and certainly not allowing ourselves to be vulnerable before them. A godly person has no place being prickly – this isn’t godly behaviour.
As Christians, we should surely seek to be approachable, trustworthy, and consistent. That said, we also need to recognise that prickliness on the part of others reflects a weakness on their part – indicating a need for help and understanding. As ambassadors of the Kingdom, we are called to reflect and exemplify the love of God. Therefore, we ought to be those who purposefully seek to reach out to others, including, and perhaps especially, the prickly sort.