This article first appeared on The Inspired Woman blog | by Daphne Delay
I heard in my spirit, “That’s just silliness.” My mind was transitioning from the day to the start of our midweek service at church, and as worship began and I mentally disconnected from the pulls of my day, that’s what I heard — and it made sense.
I know what silliness means, or at least Daphne’s definition. Nonsense, foolish, irrational. But in my spirit, I could tell God was comparing the cares of this life to the things of the Spirit. In comparison, anything away from the Spirit is silliness.
But what’s funny to me is the progression of this word. If you look up any word in the dictionary, there’s usually a section that describes its origin and history. I always find it interesting to glance over there and see how or where a term or word started.
Silly was quite interesting:
The word’s considerable sense development moved from “blessed” to “pious” to “innocent” (c.1200), to “harmless,” to “pitiable” (c.1280), to “weak” (c.1300), to “feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish” (c.1576). Further tendency toward “stunned, dazed as by a blow” (1886) in knocked silly, etc. Silly season in journalism slang is from 1861 (August and September, when newspapers compensated for a lack of hard news by filling up with trivial stories). [Webster’s]
Isn’t that wild? One word went from originally meaning blessed to eventually describing foolish, trivial matters. No wonder the Holy Spirit looked at my day in comparison to worshipping God and said (of the natural), “That’s just silliness.”
Paul asked the early church something similar. He said, “Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3, Amplified). Can I answer this honestly with a sad “yes, I think most Christians are…” I know even after being saved for such a long time, it’s still a tendency of my flesh to fill up my time with trivial things — or I could say, silly things.
It’s such a balance though, isn’t it? I mean, I don’t think God is asking us to be super-spiritual 24/7, but I also don’t think there should be such a WIDE gap between our quote/unquote “spiritualness” and “everyday life.” Somehow they should blend and balance one another.
Paul also told Timothy, “But refuse and avoid irreverent legends (profane and impure and godless functions, mere grandmothers’ tales) and silly myths, and express your disapproval of them. Train yourself toward godliness (piety), [keeping yourself spiritually fit]” (1 Timothy 4:7, Amplified). There’s that word “pious” again. It sounds over-religious, but it means godliness.
So again, isn’t it funny how the word “silly” started out meaning pious and eventually ended up meaning trivial?
Here’s my point: DON’T LET YOUR LIFE LOOK LIKE THAT.
Don’t fall into the trap of starting out strong (godly) and end up silly. In other words, don’t digress to the point of following, believing, or spending far more time in trivial things than you should.
Repeat after me: That’s just silliness. Or should I say: That’s just a trap of the enemy.
