Daily Devotional for January 16, 2020
No Laughing Matter
Landon scuffed the toe of his shoe in the playground dirt. I don’t like the jokes these guys are telling, he thought. They’re not funny, and I don’t like the way they mock different groups of people. But Landon wanted those boys to like him, so when they laughed at the jokes, he smiled or laughed along with them.
For devotions that night, Landon’s dad read from the book of John. Landon was startled when he heard Dad read a verse that said, “They loved human praise more than praise from God.” That’s just like me today, he thought. I cared more about what those guys thought than I did about what God thought.
All evening the words of the verse ran through Landon’s mind. Finally, he went to his room and knelt down beside his bed. “Dear Jesus, I’m sorry for laughing at jokes that are unkind and disrespectful to people You love,” he prayed. “Help me not go along with things like that, no matter what others say about me.”
At recess the next day, Landon and several other boys decided to have a ball game. “Hey, did you hear the one about the Mexican in the candy store?” asked one of the boys as they walked out to the baseball field.
“No,” said Landon, “and I don’t really want to.” The boy laughed and started telling the joke anyway. Sighing, Landon turned and walked away.
“Hey, where you goin’, Landon?” someone called out to him. “Looking for your mommy?”
Landon continued to walk, each step becoming a little easier. He heard footsteps behind him, and then Jordan was walking along with him. “I didn’t want to hear that joke either,” Jordan said. Landon suddenly remembered that Jordan’s dad was from Mexico.
“Wanna shoot some hoops?” Landon asked.
“Sure.” Jordan grinned. “I have to warn you though—I play with the guys in my neighborhood a lot, so I’m pretty good!”
“Oh yeah?” Landon laughed. “Well, I play on a team at my church, so you’re not gonna scare me away!”
“You go to church?”
“Yeah,” said Landon. “You can come play with us sometime if you’d like.”
Jordan picked up a basketball on the side of the court and threw it toward Landon. “You’re on!” -Carolyn E. Yost
How about you?
Do you care a lot about what other people think of you? Are you more focused on pleasing them than on pleasing God? Jesus is the one who loved you enough to die for you, and His opinion is more important than anyone else’s. He wants you to love people others make fun of, even if it means you’ll be made fun of too. Do what pleases Him, not other people.
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