Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Our light

Ephesians 5:4 "Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving."

This is one thing that I feel that we as Christians should pay more attention to. I know that the society as a whole has so accepted crude joking, that we are almost numb to it. I, as one, am almost completely numb, except in obvious situations, to foolish conversations.

Crude joking does not honor God. Voice, in the song Laugh Out Loud, says, "Humor has a way of making things acceptable." We should not joke about things that are sinful. There's a lot of crude humor that really is funny, but just because something is funny doesn't mean we should laugh at it. Again, Voice said, "Don't laugh at sin, man, because it put Christ on the Cross..." Do you think that Jesus would laugh at a joke about gays? I don't think so. Sin is serious, not humorous.

Foolish talk is almost as serious a sin as crude joking although most of us participate in it all the time. When we crack jokes or make fun of each other, we are, in reality, telling God that we don't appreciate the precious life that He has given us. I'm not saying that we can't joke at all. I just mean that we should not spend the majority of our conversations trying to entertain each other. Let God and those around you know that you do appreciate the time on the earth that God has given you.

That's about all I have to say on the subject. I have been wanting to make this post for a while, but kept forgetting. I didn't really have a strong conviction in this area until I started writing this note. When you laugh at something, ask yourself, "Is God laughing along with me?"

The reason why I titled this post "Our Light," is because I feel that this is one area in the American Christian life that is dimming our light. We must live against the grain or that one area we are failing in will turn to blackness just like our surroundings.

I hope that this will apply to someone besides myself.

Wesley

4 comments:

Emily said...

Like always, amazing post Wesley. What you say is, sadly, completely true.

I wish more teens would think like you do, Wesley.

It's one of those things that /always/ bothers me and somewhat makes me uncomfortable to be around, yet I adjust and become 'numb' to it. Mainly because there doesn't seem to be much avoiding it in this world.

And, I'm definitely not saying I never do these things myself, because I sadly, do sometimes. :/

The biggest thing that gets me is people making fun of others. That really makes me sad. I like how you put it: 'we are, in reality, telling God that we don't appreciate the precious life that He has given us'.

I do think that this is definitely an area where us Christians definitely could improve. We seem to be very careful in other areas of life, but this one seems to be one that goes un-thought of for a lot of Christians.

Again, wonderful post! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Due to a series of painful events, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and it really bothers me. It's so easy to ignore commands in the Bible that we are uncomfortable with - after all, nowadays it's pretty hard to get away from "crude joking." But the difficulty doesn't mean we have to give up - we're not alone.

Thanks for this great post, Wesley - very thought-provoking and insightful!

Wesley said...

Thanks, y'all. =)

What I meant by that line "we are, in reality, telling God that we don't appreciate the precious life that He has given us," was that foolish talk really is just a waste of our lives. I think that I made that pretty clear, but I just wanted to state it plainly...

Once it becomes hard to get away from a particular sin even in church, then something has to change. =|

Again, thanks for the input! =)

Emily said...

oh...ok. Well, I still like that. I think it could apply either way :)