Yesterday we talked about how showing respect is one of the things we can do as we put the Word of God into practice in our lives by intentionally forgiving the offenses of others. Today, I want to share with you yet another helpful tip as you begin to let go of the little things: eliminate dark humor.

I learned the importance of curbing dark and sarcastic jokes on a missions trip I went on years ago; in fact, it was a rule on all of our trips. Since we were in difficult circumstances — sometimes it was hot and dry, sometimes we ran out of food, or sometimes we were in danger — it was easy to use dark humor. Do you know what I mean by that? I mean being sarcastic about people you love. I think men do this a lot, in particular, and I’m not saying it’s a sin to use it, but it’s just not a good idea. You can come up with funnier stuff; see what happens if you say something nice about the person. In fact, on our trip, if someone said something negative about a fellow team member, that person could look at them and say seven up, which meant that they had to give seven compliments about them because of that one little insult. As you can imagine, that took care of the problem really quickly!

Friend, eliminating dark humor enables you to see the best in people and to not dwell on the negative aspects of their personality. As you seek to bring the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart into alignment with God’s Kingdom, you can intentionally see the good in people. Positivity has power and your words are containers of blessing! What an amazing thought!