I’m not very good at this, and a lot of times I speak without really thinking it through. It’s usually meant in a joking way, but I know that doesn’t make it right—what’s funny to one person isn’t always funny to someone else.
At the same time, I would never intentionally judge someone in a way that causes hurt. When I realize I’ve said something wrong, I try to acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness.
I’ve really been working on reminding myself that it’s not my place to judge—that responsibility belongs to God.
I don't believe that joking is necessarily judging someone, but we do need to be very careful when saying things and then say, "I was just kidding." Luke 6:45 states: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." This means that a person’s words are a direct reflection of what is deeply rooted in their heart—both in thought, emotion, and inner disposition. So, what we say in jest, many times is actually the truth about how we feel about the situation or person. It's better to do as we talked about earlier in Matthew and let your "yes be yes and your no be no" while biting our tongue. We can never be sure about what kind of pain we are causing someone when we say something that we are supposedly "just joking" about. So... I believe you have hit on something here: That "just joking" can absolutely be a form of judgement depending on the subject matter we are "just joking" about. Thanks for listening!
Understanding all this more, I actually think I’ll be able to help someone that is constantly saying just joking, after what they say is pretty hurtful. Thank you for helping me understand.
This is very well said.
I’m not very good at this, and a lot of times I speak without really thinking it through. It’s usually meant in a joking way, but I know that doesn’t make it right—what’s funny to one person isn’t always funny to someone else.
At the same time, I would never intentionally judge someone in a way that causes hurt. When I realize I’ve said something wrong, I try to acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness.
I’ve really been working on reminding myself that it’s not my place to judge—that responsibility belongs to God.
I don't believe that joking is necessarily judging someone, but we do need to be very careful when saying things and then say, "I was just kidding." Luke 6:45 states: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." This means that a person’s words are a direct reflection of what is deeply rooted in their heart—both in thought, emotion, and inner disposition. So, what we say in jest, many times is actually the truth about how we feel about the situation or person. It's better to do as we talked about earlier in Matthew and let your "yes be yes and your no be no" while biting our tongue. We can never be sure about what kind of pain we are causing someone when we say something that we are supposedly "just joking" about. So... I believe you have hit on something here: That "just joking" can absolutely be a form of judgement depending on the subject matter we are "just joking" about. Thanks for listening!
Understanding all this more, I actually think I’ll be able to help someone that is constantly saying just joking, after what they say is pretty hurtful. Thank you for helping me understand.