the fool's joke

 

Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool,

but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.

Proverbs 10:23

I've lived to see the first part of this proverb sum up the attitude of many people these days. Sin is a joke. It's a sitcom punchline, a comedian's running gag, a reality TV star's claim to celebrity. Evil intentions are dismissed as just "joking talk". This casual dismissal of the sin that separates us from a holy God and put Jesus on a mission of death on the cross sadly works its way into His church. We just don't grieve over sin like we used to, at least in the sense of seriously putting it to death so that we can live in Christ.

My observation is that when Christians deal with sin, we sometimes treat it confessionally and then stop there. I've been around "accountability" groups where the same sins keep getting confessed (that is a good thing, by the way, and I encourage confession to one another), but putting on holiness after putting off sin may not be encouraged with the same passion as simple confession. And that is taking sin lightly, just like the fool's joke.

O Holy God,

Help me to so delight in Your wisdom and the holiness it brings to me that I will put it on, in place of my foolish sin! Save me from light views of my fallenness! Save me from making the fool's joke.

Amen