Sep 20, 2018
Encourage one another
and build each other up... 1Thess 5:11
Eliminate the
destruction of sarcasm & demeaning words, and speak loving truth to each
other.
When was the last time you said something sarcastic to get
your point across? Or how about the last
time you said a cutting remark and then came back with the line: “just kidding”.
Sarcasm and ‘joking around’ is often fun to give out, but
doesn’t feel so good coming back at you.
In fact, targeted humor only creates a desire for retaliation, and usually results in distancing people in their relationships. It’s a
far distance from what Jesus wants for us, and how He treats us.
Dianna and I had a harsh moment many years ago when we were
in the midst of a conversation with our daughter, and she started pulling out
sarcastic responses to us. At first we
were in shock, not realizing how quick-witted she could be. But then the reality of an 8-year old already
growing a sarcastic spirit with her parents made us realize how difficult the
future was going to be if we didn’t correct it.
The problem was, we came to realize the reason we were hearing sarcastic
comments and cutting jokes was because we had been making those types of
comments at her. So we started a “sarcasm
jar”, and every time anyone made a sarcastic remark, they had to put a dime in
it. I’m pretty sure I was the biggest
contributor, and we found out that summer how much our language needed to
change.
Something interesting happened when we worked on removing
sarcasm and biting jokes from our language… we started noticing a more positive
attitude and better scholastic results from our daughter! It was amazing the correlation between the
language and the results! The more our
conversation was encouraging and truthful, the better she did. And the more we showed respect and kindness
in our language to each other, the better our family functioned.
Here’s a Test: Make a
pledge to eliminate sarcasm and coarse joking from your behavior for 30 days,
and see what the results are for you. My
guess is, it won’t happen overnight. Bad
habits take time to break. But watch for
the tone of your home and work environment when you pull these out of the setting. Grace and kindness can go a long way to
meeting goals and generating success.
That doesn’t mean you ignore the facts or stop being truthful, but it
does change the spirit and the attitude of every situation.
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