Day 19: That Ugly Beast

Sarcasm. What an ugly beast that so many of us have domesticated in our lives. To me, sarcasm has to be the most widely used mechanism of coping in existence. I know that I have used it to avoid situations that make me uncomfortable, and more commonly just to spite people.

Before I knew Christ, sarcasm was a way of life for me. The sad thing?

In so many ways, it still is.

I still find myself in situations when I know that sarcasm will make things easier for me. It's always easier for us to joke about anything than to actually formulate a genuine thought and say it. And to think how many people I have hurt by what I've said. How many times my sarcastic tongue has belittled people, or their intelligence, and hurt their feelings.

What kind of monster have I been? And if I'm being honest with myself, what kind of destruction am I still causing with my words?

The bible is so deliberate in its discussion of language, and its power. Proverb 18 is quick to show how much is weighed in what is said by the tongue:

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverb 18: 21

Our tongue, our speech, has the power to give life and to bring death. That is a crazy thought. But, it's true...what one person says to another person, especially in biting sarcasm, can bring another person to their knees.

For me, I've been so discouraged in certain areas of my life via sarcasm (be it from family or friends) that I began to think of it as normal. I could not function without it invading the way I spoke to people. I came to find that people always viewed me as aggressive or cynical because of the way I spoke. No one considered me to be anything but negative, and they always wondered if they could take me seriously. All of the things I now strive to be (an encourager, a good listener, a helper) were the farthest adjectives from people's minds when they thought of me.

I didn't care then, but it tears me apart now. And, now that I recognize the hold that sarcasm has had on my speech and in my life, I find myself sensitive to others who let it captivate their conversations. I am realizing that I want to be a person whose speech is like a tree of life:

“The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverb 15: 4

I feel like God is teaching me that our focus should be on encouraging each other constantly, singing spiritual psalms to each other while praising God. To be plain, I think that it's inevitable to have a bit of sarcasm in our day to day conversations, but the point is to not center your speech, or personality for that matter, around a bitter and sneering disposition.

God is showing me that my words not only affect the way that people see me, but they also affect the way that people see Him.

If your speech is causing people to look away from the Father, rethink what and how you're saying what you're saying.

Be a tree of life instead of crushing the spirit.

In Christ,

Lilia