Super Luke Faces His Bully is a fun loving adventure spoken straight from the heart of a super-sweet eight-year-old bully victim, Luke Giggleheart. The Word of God is used as a lens to examine some of the issues that can make a person act like either a bully or a victim. During this adventure, Luke, our tender-hearted bully victim, learns about fear, being courageous and getting adults to help, while praying for his enemies.
These are excellent questions! Let us take a brief look at what is at the core of bullying and how it can be expressed so we can better address these questions.
Bullying is peer abuse; it occurs when one child reacts with aggression towards another, weaker appearing child. Bullying is a serious social problem that expresses its ugly self in both the physical (earthly) and spiritual realms. This is why we need to tackle the bullying in both arenas.
Let’s first take a glance at why it is important to tackle bullying from a physical perspective. Parents and teachers are responsible for providing children with safe home and learning environments. To do this, we need to protect bully victims while teaching them to assert themselves and not to be fearful; since bullies feed on the fear. We, also, need to give firm discipline to the bullies in an attempt to squash their aggressive behaviors.
In the most ideal situations, this could be effective if adults were always acutely aware of bullying incidences. Then they must stomp out the toxic dynamic before the flames of fear and aggression grow more out of control. Often, the victims of bullying are too fearful to tell an adult about their abuse. This is how the problem goes unnoticed. Even with the most well-meaning “Zero Tolerance Policies” in place, if adults are not made aware of each bullying situation, they cannot intervene. This is one reason bullying has become so out of control in many schools.
Now, let us look at bullying from a Christian perspective. Bullying results when a prideful heart collides with a victim’s fearful, insecure heart. Our spiritual hearts are at the core of who we are and at the core of bullying. Imagine for a moment that our spiritual hearts are like motor vehicles. Some vehicles are frail and could easily be crushed in a collision. Others are powerful Mack Trucks that usually remain unharmed from collisions. When laws are obeyed, everyone gets to their destinations safely. However, if a Mack Truck is intoxicated with pride, it could foolishly believe that laws do not apply to themselves. It may purposefully crash into a more insecure appearing vehicle just for the power and thrill of it. Once the two vehicles collide, a victim’s heart is damaged and becomes more fearful. This makes it an even bigger bully target. Meanwhile, if the prideful Mack Truck is not “pulled over” and disciplined, he is likely to become even more intoxicated with pride. This refuels and feeds the entire bullying dynamic!
Clearly, bullying is a spiritual battle! The Good News is that Jesus Christ has already won the battle for us. This is why we need to pray that God transforms the prideful and fearful hearts of our children so that they can be assertive Christians, free of fear and pride. Christ can bully-proof any heart!
Thank you for your time and interest in learning about tackling bullying from a Christian perspective.
~Dr. Jackie C. Cogswell Author of the Giggleheart Adventure Series
www.giggleheart.com www.drjackiec.com Dr. Jackie Chirco Cogswell is a family physician, wife, mother, former school teacher, and now author of a series of Christian children’s novels, the GIGGLEHEART ADVENTURE SERIES. Writing Christian books and reading the Bible has become her passion.
In recent years, Dr. Jackie has been led to teach children of all ages how to prevent and stop bullying. As a Christian mother, the issue of bullying became very personal to her when her child was bullied in elementary school. Through the many struggles her son had with bullies, Dr. Jackie learned from firsthand experience how to tackle bullying from a Christian perspective. SUPER LUKE FACES HIS BULLY was inspired by her son’s personal struggle and the good Lord, “Who equips us for every battle and gives us strength.”
