I was counseling with a young man recently and he asked me a very profound question. This particular individual has been around anointed leaders all his life and some of these experiences had been good and some not so good. Some of his recent experiences have not been good. The profound question he asked me was this. Why can’t greatly anointed leaders be nice???

Obviously, my young friend has had some challenging encounters with anointed leaders and I am always aware that there are two sides to every story. But, just for teaching sake, let’s assume that this young man has a valid argument and a valid criticism of the way some anointed leaders act.

The following are several scriptures that will give us some guidance in the responsibilities of the anointed man or woman of God:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8, ESV)

Follow after charity (love), and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:1-3)

Of course, the opposite side of that young man’s question is “What makes an anointed person to be not so nice?”

There is a price to pay for carrying the anointing of God. Jesus paid the ultimate price on the cross but Satan is still after those who carry the anointing.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalm 2:1-3)

There is constant rejection from people and constant attacks from the enemy. The enemy knows that the gifts of God are without repentance so he will never be able to steal the call but he can get the anointed into so much bitterness and hatred that they lose their effectiveness. We have to always remember that it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. That is why Jesus gave the church at Ephesus a warning in Revelation 2:4 to return to their first love.

Your first love carries with it no bitterness or hatred. It has not been lied to and stolen from. It has not been ridiculed and rejected. That is why it is so important for all of us to forgive quickly and harbor no bitterness.