If loving the imperfect is godly, then, just maybe, mocking the imperfect is demonic. Who would mock a Downs’ child? Who would mock a person whose cerebral palsy had wrecked mobility or altered speech? Who would make fun of a class or ethnic group with demeaning, offensive, and abusive rhetoric? Jesus teaching in Matthew 5:22 forbids the hateful mocking names of idiot, fool, ignoramus, moron, half-wit, and a hundred other close synonyms as a form of hate, and thus murder; all of which are a failure to love an imperfect fellow human. The devil was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:34); he often hurls all these words to our thoughts to kill our self-image. (This too is a form of temptation!) May we never believe the word of the father of lies. May we not do the work of the devil by hurling them at others.
Father, forgive us. We have allowed the hateful language and speech of the culture to contaminate our minds and souls; the expressions of which have divided us from our fellow humans. Cleanse us! We have pleaded for revival that deals with none of this, breaking Your holy heart. May we know that it is we who hold revival at bay by our shallow confessions and partial repentances that have not yet turned away from our loveless ways.
