I’ll bet you’re curious to know what this post is about! Actually, I love curious people, and find those who lack curiosity to be a bit boring. Still, there are some things that are good to be curious about, and others that vie for our attention that are not edifying. Here are two things worthy of your curiosity, and three that are not.

Praiseworthy curiosity: Two things you’ll want to curiously seek

  1. Seek curiosity about the ways of God. What is God like? What has he revealed in his Word? What is his plan of redemption? Covenants? Promise and fulfillment? The glory of God? You get the idea.
  2. Seek curiosity about the world God has created. Whenever I have a question about something in God’s creation, I try to find an answer as soon as I possibly can, no matter how small the question. I delight in learning more and more about this amazingly complex, fascinating, and beautiful—even if currently fallen—world in which God has placed us.

Morbid curiosity: Three things you’ll want to curiously avoid

  1. Avoid curiosity about friends, co-workers, and family members that are none of your business, especially when you can guess that the relevant parties wouldn’t want others to know what’s going on. I learned a long time ago that life is oh-so-much better when I am at peace about not knowing everything about everybody. Some people feel like they have to know everything; for some it is a compulsive, even addictive, behavior. But “having” to know all the details about everything will necessarily lead to gossip; and those who love God ought to avoid gossip (Prov. 20:19; 11:13; 1 Tim. 5:13).
  2. Avoid curiosity about things that simply should not be mentioned.” Paul has a category for things that are “disgraceful even to speak of” (Eph. 5:12; cf. 5:3). You will want to train yourself not to be curious about details about Satanism, or sexual deviance, or violence. There are exceptions, of course, such as those who are in apologetic ministry, or investigating crimes, or academically seeking to turn the tide on sexual ethics. But some professing Christians are morbidly curious about things that are not only unedifying, they are evil. Romans 16:19 says, “Be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.”
  3. Finally, avoid curiosity about the private lives of celebrities. You don’t know them anyway (even if you feel like you do), the time you spend trying to learn about them is wasted time (that is, unredeemable time, see Eph. 5:16), and in many cases, the celebrities don’t want these details to be known.

There you have it: Two areas in which you should seek to be curious, and three areas about which you should seek to curb your curiosity.