Slick speakers and sick listeners.

Unassuming wickedness...

Even the dictionary gets it (and that's not always the case); all of us would read the word "wickedness" and think of the word "evil", but few of us would think of the word "wickedness" and think of the phrase "morally wrong." Google dictionary nailed it in this case; it very appropriately attached both ideas to the word "wickedness."

Something does not have to be perversely evil to be wicked. In God's eyes, something morally wrong falls into the category of what is wicked.

We often only think of something being "wicked" when we think of witches, or perverse evil, so this idea of "wickedness" including ordinary moral wrongs may shock us.

Obviously, in more than one place, the Scriptures reveal this distinction, but I believe this proverbs embodies this idea perfectly: "An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue." (Proverbs 17:4 ESV)

Here, the moral wrong is taking counsel from people who are up to no good. Do you see it? The moral wrong, in this case, is not doing something wildly outrageous, but giving ear to people who aren't pursuing the Lord. It's that simple.

This nuance lands most of us regularly in the arena of "wickedness." The conversations we gravitate towards; the gossip we entertain; the music and other media we consume; those things we read...all of these could easily engage us in "wickedness."