Don’t take yourself too seriously

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Lighten up a little”

Our Bible verse for today: “Truly I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t take yourself too seriously”

In the late 1980s there was a young comedian named Dana Carvey who starred on the television show “Saturday Night Live”. As a member of the cast his job was to come up with funny characters and to put on live comedy skits. One of Dana’s most popular characters was known as “The Church Lady”. The Church Lady was prim and proper – with big hair, too much make-up (including a hideous amount of red lipstick), and a 1950s-style dress. Her cheeks were pinched and sucked-in and her lips were always puckered, making her look like she must have been weaned on a pickle. She held her little purse with both hands at waist level, and her posture was ramrod straight (her girdle was obviously way too tight).

The Church Lady would then proceed to bless us with her opinion on everything from bad boys to loose girls; from rock and roll music to bad manners; from proper etiquette at church potlucks to the awful tie the pastor wore last Sunday; and everything in-between. Just watching and listening to her, with those sucked-in cheeks and those puckered lips, you just knew that as a child she sucked every ounce of juice out of that pickle.

Many Christians back then were offended by this caricature of church people, and they thought it was terrible for Dana Carvey to make fun of them. Not me. I thought it was hilarious. I still do. And I also think it’s good for us to laugh at ourselves. We often take ourselves way too seriously. That’s one of the reasons I love the ministry of Chonda Pierce. She’s a Pastor’s kid who was raised in church, and she is hilarious in her comedy routines as she points out the silliness of church life and gets us all to laugh about it. That’s good for us.

In Matthew 18:3 Jesus was using a child as an illustration of the simple faith that is special to God. Children believe easily and completely. But another lesson we can learn from children is to stop being so darn serious about everything and just relax. Children have that unique ability to be silly and to have fun, and as adults we need more of that. We’re too uptight.

I’ll share with you one thing that makes me uptight. It has to do with how nice the people at our church are. Did you know it is possible to be too nice? It is. I have a recurring dream that I’m up on the stage on Sunday preaching my heart out, and my zipper is down. And nobody tells me!

Why? Why does nobody tell me? Because they’re so nice that’s why, and they don’t want to embarrass me. So, they say nothing.

Look, I love you all, I really do, and I’m glad you are so nice, but for goodness-sakes, don’t be that nice! Tell me my zipper is down. We’ll all get a good laugh out of it and then I’ll preach the rest of the sermon!

Now go and have a good day but remember, don’t take yourself too seriously.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply