Today’s background photo is a selfie … taken in the mirror.
The fire was going good yesterday morning and I was in the process of adding more wood to the firebox when my arm accidentally touched the side of the firebox. Ever-so-slightly … only for a fraction of a second.
After tending to the fire and closing the firebox door, I surveyed the damage to my arm. It was intriguing how the center of the burn had immediately turned a strange white color, while all around the edges were charred back. (the background photo was taken later in the afternoon, after I had been doctoring the burn with E-oil all day)
My immediate “blink” reaction was: “That is what it is like when someone mocks and makes fun of us as a joke, to get a laugh.”
We’ve all had it happen to us … someone decides that something about us will make a great joke … so they proceed to berate us (often publicly to others) in a joking fashion, while everyone laughs.
And then they follow-up by saying: I was only joking.
It wasn’t a joke.
And it wasn’t funny.
In fact, it hurt. It was a white-hot “burn” on the soul, with charred-black edges.
When this happens repeatedly, the “burn” wound in our soul begins to scar over. The person who treats us this way is not a safe person, so we subconsciously “scar over” and develop a protective barrier in our soul towards them. We don’t want to get too close to them … or anything they find out about us will become reason to mock and make fun of us.
Every single person is made in the image of God … therefore every single person is worthy of dignity, value, and respect. To mock and laugh about another person because of their faults, flaws, mistakes, or quirks is to disrespect and tear down what God has made in His own image … a precious person whom He loves very much! That is His daughter … that is His son … and God loves His kids! … very much!
“Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘I was only joking!’” – Proverbs 26:18-19
Don’t get your laughs at the expense of someone else.
