Hostile Humor

(Proverbs 24:9 KJV)  The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

I am going to make an assumption.  You want to avoid “sin” (2403b).  At least I know that is one of my goals.  In some areas that requires no effort.  I am not tempted to steal.  I have no plans to build and worship any false images.  We all have things we don’t struggle with. 

I am not so sure when it comes to “thought ” (2154) of “foolishness” (200) (devising of folly NASB).  “Foolishness” (folly NASB) is immature stupidity.  It is horse play.  It is practical jokes.  It covers a lot of ground in the area of humor and goofing off.  Here I plead guilty.

The only wiggle room I can find is in the word “thought” (devising NASB).  This word is a little deeper than our English equivalent.  In the Hebrew it seems to carry the weight of evil intent.  At the core of the action is a desire to create problems.  This gets subtle, or we at least find it easy to ignore.  The place it rears its ugly head in my life is in what I call “humor.”  I joke a lot.  Most of the time that is well and good but there are times when I know that I am really trying to get a dig in.  That is when I cross the line.

So?  I need to look at my motives for my humor.  I need to ask myself why I am being “honest” and “open.”  Could I really not help myself?  I think I will know, if I am honest with myself.  If I move ahead I am crossing into the area of sin.  Is it just me?