Recently I heard a person belittle and make fun of another person. They described the person as being fat, sloppy and ugly. I was amazed that one person could ridicule another person to such degree. The person doing the mocking would by our standards be considered a Christian, but what do I know? I was taken back to my childhood days when our mother taught us that it was a sin and a crime to make fun of other people. I can recall a relative of ours who considered it funny to degrade other people. She would outwardly and openly describe other people as being ugly. That always struck a chord with me, for I remembered another relative ask my mom and dad one day, “Whose ugly child is that coming in the door?” Of course, he was talking about me, but more importantly, I heard my mom say softly and gently, “He’s mine.”
To this day I reflect on the words of David in Psalm 139:14: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
I invite everyone to memorize this scripture and say it to yourself every chance you get. We are all God’s creation and according to Genesis 1:27: “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” If we are made in the image of God our worth is associated and connected to God. One writer says, “If God is of great and inestimable worth, then human beings made in his image must be of great value too.”
C.S. Lewis, in his book, The Weight of Glory says, “There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal.”
Just imagine a world where everybody looked alike and acted the same. I would imagine it would be a pretty dull world. Our differences in appearances and actions make life very appealing and interesting. God knew what he was doing when he made some people skinny, some fat, some tall, some short, some black, some light, some yellow, some white, etc. A side bar statement from me though would be, “If you are overweight, you may wish to get rid of some of it because it impacts our health negatively. Just a thought!
My message today is very simple, let’s be careful how we make fun of other people, for God does not like ugliness. Basically, what I am saying is God does not like us making fun of his creation. We must be careful because the bible tells us: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). In other words, watch out for your making fun of another person could boomerang or rain on you.
Whenever I hear people demeaning or making fun of others, I think about the text that reads, “From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some young men came out of the town and jeered at him, “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. Go on up, you baldhead! He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the young men” (2 Kings 2:23-24)
Some believe the punishment was justified, for to ridicule Elisha was to ridicule God himself.
For four years we constantly heard the former president of the United States make fun of other people. One of his worst offenses was when he mocked a reporter with disability. For me, that was an all-time low, but as time went on, more antics of this type were made.
When I was in college, a friend of mine was dating this young lady who was jealous of another young lady who had her eyes on my friend also. She made some unfriendly remarks about the other young lady that I never forgot. My friend ended up marrying the young lady who was made fun of. They got married and have lived happily ever after. The one who criticized and made fun of the other young lady lived a life of being in and out of relationships and never married. She may have preferred never getting married, but I am just saying…
In closing, be careful how we talk about and make fun of others.
Not a sermon, just my thoughts!
Robert Earl Slade, Pastor
