09-27-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 27, 2024
There are some passages of scripture that scream joy and optimism. I love coming across those passages and allowing their undeniable cheerfulness to lift my spirit. Of course, not every passage makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. For instance, Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” I read those words, and I am reminded of the old sketch on Saturday Night Live with Debbie Downer. The opening song started, “You’re enjoying your day; everything’s going your way; then along comes Debbie Downer.” Debbie Downer had the amazing ability to take any positive, joyful, or happy moment and yank every hopeful ounce of life energy out of it. I think the Proverb is attempting to offer a word of caution, yet I find it to be an embodiment of how the negative outlook of one person can drag even the most euphoric individual into the proverbial pit of pessimism. Negative people may think they are right, but in fact their way ends in death. Let’s do our best to be a people who lead others, not to death but to life, hope, and joy.

Provide me a spirit of joy, O Gracious Giver, so I may be an emissary of your joy in the lives of others. Amen.