Laughing at Culture
Oct/20/2009 13:12
I was struck by the depth of my need for Jesus this week.
As one who claims to love people and culture I sure enjoy laughing at people at their worst. The conviction struck me while I was imbibing in a very funny website at work, laughing it up with co-workers and ridiculing the people portrayed on it. "Is this becoming for a Christian?" I thought.
If you work in the technology industry or spend a lot of time around the internet as I do, you'll know the kind of website I'm talking about. In the last few years, the internet has created a humor sub-culture which collects the worst of human behavior, mistakes, flubs, tricks, and pranks and lays them out for everyone to see. This humor-mill has turned into a full on media cash bonanza with start-ups raking in wads of cash and expanding their reach farther and farther afield. Make no mistake, some of these sites are extremely funny, especially those that capture people in their most failed moments.
However, as I read that site this week, the thought occurred to me that I was not laughing with people, I was laughing at people. People made in the image of God. People for whom Christ died. People who needed to hear the message of Jesus from a missionary, not the laughter and scorn of an anonymous prankster. My call to maturity meant putting away the juvenile, to stop wasting time. It was a gentle reminder from the one who showed us what it means to really love people that he didn't laugh at me when I was at my worst. I'm just glad there's no video evidence of me.
As one who claims to love people and culture I sure enjoy laughing at people at their worst. The conviction struck me while I was imbibing in a very funny website at work, laughing it up with co-workers and ridiculing the people portrayed on it. "Is this becoming for a Christian?" I thought.
If you work in the technology industry or spend a lot of time around the internet as I do, you'll know the kind of website I'm talking about. In the last few years, the internet has created a humor sub-culture which collects the worst of human behavior, mistakes, flubs, tricks, and pranks and lays them out for everyone to see. This humor-mill has turned into a full on media cash bonanza with start-ups raking in wads of cash and expanding their reach farther and farther afield. Make no mistake, some of these sites are extremely funny, especially those that capture people in their most failed moments.
However, as I read that site this week, the thought occurred to me that I was not laughing with people, I was laughing at people. People made in the image of God. People for whom Christ died. People who needed to hear the message of Jesus from a missionary, not the laughter and scorn of an anonymous prankster. My call to maturity meant putting away the juvenile, to stop wasting time. It was a gentle reminder from the one who showed us what it means to really love people that he didn't laugh at me when I was at my worst. I'm just glad there's no video evidence of me.
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