Am I in Contempt in God's Eyes?

The Bible says not to be a scoffer.

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers.  2 But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law.  3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.  4 But this is not true of the wicked. They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.  5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly.  6 For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.   --Psalm 1:1-6 New Living Translation   1 How well God must like you - you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead-End Road, you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.  2 Instead you thrill to God's Word, you chew on Scripture day and night.    --Psalm 1:1-2 The Message  1 Happy is the man who does not go in the company of sinners, or take his place in the way of evil-doers, or in the seat of those who do not give honour to the Lord.  --Psalm 1:1 The Bible in Basic English   What is scoffing?   I'm often stunned at how negative I speak.  I'm always tired.  I'm always stressed out.  I'm often worried about something.  What about reading the Bible to figure out how to deal with my situations?  Should I stand around complaining about all the horrible things that happen to me?  Should I make fun of someone's high voice?  Should I gossip about that person with others at the cooler?  What does verse one mean?   Come on, I am a great complainer, but I want to stop complaining about this or that.  I want to know what scoffing, scorning, and acting in contempt mean.  When I look up the word scoff, it leads me to those other vague words--scorn and contempt.  When I hear these words, scorn, scoff, and contempt, I get confused.  Do you get confused, my dear readers?  You can be honest.  When this happens, it's time to get out the dictionary or search for the definitions of the words in the internet.  The word scoff means to scorn, deride or have contempt for someone or something.  To scorn or deride means to mock or jeer.  In easy words, if you make fun of someone or speak horribly to someone, you are practicing all of these things--deriding, practicing contempt, scorning, or scoffing.    When I think of the word contempt, I think of being in contempt of court.  It's like when a judge tells a person who is in his court to stop disrespecting.  The person keeps disrespecting.  That person is in contempt of court.   Now, you might be thinking, "Is she calling me out on this?"  The reality is that I am guilty of this myself.  Sometimes, I get upset about someone who, for example, is standing in my way in an aisle at Walmart, oblivious to my need to pass through.  I then say something bad under my breath, like, "Ugh, these people...I wish they would get out of my way."   For one, what if he is asking his wife about the grocery list?  What if he's talking to a troubled family member or friend?  Whatever the situation, I should not hate him just because he is in front of me.  I don't have a right to scorn him.  Second, what am I teaching my children?  Oh, this is a hard one.  Am I teaching my children that life is unbearable and that everyone around me is just there to annoy me?   What do you think my kids will do if I keep doing that?  You guessed it--they will take after me.  They will mock those around them.   The word scorn means to have hatred for someone or something.  Do you hate your job?  Do you hate someone?  Or do you make fun of someone?  If you have a deep dislike for something or someone, then you are scorning.      The antidote to scoffing is to do as God wishes and to think on the laws of God.  That would bring honor to God.   Instead of complaining, talking negatively, and making fun of people, I should get into the Word of God.  I should turn to the Bible.  If I have problems, I should pray to God for solutions and be ready to follow through with whatever God tells me to do.   Thanks so much for reading today's blog entry about being in contempt and its consequences.  I appreciate you taking the time to read it.

 How about you, my readers?  Are you guilty of mocking people?  What about hating something?  Are you bringing honor to God?  I encourage you to read the Bible, especially Psalm 1.  I think it's worth understanding this concept of scoffing at something or someone.  Knowing this can help you seek help from the real God who holds the ultimate power to affect your life in a wonderful way.

 God bless you all, my dear friends, with His wisdom and peace.  In Jesus' name.  Amen! 

This has been an entry for the Spiritual Sundays series. 


To compile this mini- bible study, I visited: http://www.biblestudytools.com/