Tuesday, July 22, 2008

don't waste your humor

Below are some quotes from C. J. Mahaney's recent talk "Don't Waste Your Humor":

Apart from humor and laughter, one would be vulnerable to unwise, unhealthy introspection, discouragement, and depression.

Humor cultivates humility.

The Bible tells us that only the humble are truly happy.

Those who are humble love to laugh at themselves.

"We should mind humiliation less if we were but humble." C. S. Lewis

Self-deprecating humor reminds us that we are not the center of the universe. It is a humble assessment of oneself.

The times when I do not engage in humor, I usually have a high view of myself.

Sin is not humorous and ought not be laughed at. I grieves the heart of God.

7 comments:

Mikey Lynch said...

thanks for posting these up. great quotes. great advice.

The Pook said...

Interesting quotes.

Not sure about the last one, in some contexts.

"Sin is not humorous and ought not be laughed at. It grieves the heart of God."

That's true when applied to the smutty style humour of a Benny Hill or Ali G, or Eddie Murphy's favourite one word joke. That's laughing WITH the sin.

But the bible itself does poke fun AT certain sins. It's more of an ironic, wry kind of humour, but still humour. This is particularly true of the sins of idolatry (1 Ki 18:27; Isa 44:15-17; Hos 4:12, etc), but also includes laziness (Prov 26:15; Ecc 10:18) and drunkenness (Prov 23:30-35). And God himself laughs at the folly of rebellion (Psalm 2:4; 37:13).

Jonny said...

So... maybe you could teach your child to be humble. I laugh when a toddlers first words (after "mum" and "dad") are "oh dear", or "oh no" or some phrase to show they humbly admit the mess they just made.
Even today, I found myself saying "oh dear, silly me" when I put my foot in some oil in the workshop. I still make mistakes every day.

gina said...

laughter is indeed good medicine!

Mark said...

I agree with the Pook on the last point. Jesus saves some of his most biting sarcasm to make fun of religious people. The Apostle Paul and Luther follow in the same line, ridiculing the ridiculousness of human self-righteousness.

Otherwise good quotes Christine.

Anonymous said...

good thoughts! after all, the Bible laughter is good like medicine!

Daily said...

Not that they are hilarious belly laugh quotes, but I like them. Thanks for putting them on your blog.