The Fool

I’ve decided to become more social. I even broke my privacy and opened up to Facebook—hopefully to share this blog, but connecting with friend and family that I never see would be a good thing. Me, I’m a pretty anti-social person. Not because I don’t like people or enjoy their company, but my nerves are shot. Noise and noisy situations just don’t agree with me. It’s like somebody’s turned up my sensitivity meter way up and I’m in overload. It’s like listening in at church or a concert and the PA system’s feeding back and everything’s out of control. So, I mostly keep a low profile. But, as I read the bible over and over, cover to cover I feel God’s Spirit purifying my mind. He is giving me back my mind. And with it, I realize too much of the time I’ve played the fool. Or have I? Well, at least some of the time.

A fool is well described in Proverbs. A fool is not a person with out knowledge or instruction. The fool knows. He knows what is right, and does wrong. A fool knows there is a God, yet denies His existence—sounds like today’s college professor’s. A fool is one who does the same wrong thing over and over, even though he knows the right way. A fool lay’s a trap for his own soul and walks right in it. A fool is one who is drawn to the immoral woman whose path leads to hell.

Well perhaps I was too quick to judge myself; I’ve just made plenty of bad decisions in life. Perhaps the fool’s role is misunderstood in modern society. Perhaps being a fool is more serious than we think. Perhaps that is why Jesus said if you call somebody a fool, you are in danger of hell fire.

Just maybe Proverbs goes into such detail about this type of person because we are all prone to foolish behavior. We are often just part-time fools.

“Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord, but fools hate wisdom and discipline.

"You fools, how long will you be foolish? How long will you make fun of wisdom and hate knowledge?

Fools will die because they refuse to listen; they will be destroyed because they do not care. He will die because he does not control himself, and he will be held captive by his foolishness.

The wise do what they are told, but a talkative fool will be ruined.

A foolish person enjoys doing wrong, but a person with understanding enjoys doing what is wise.

Fools think they are doing right, but the wise listen to advice.

Fools quickly show that they are upset, but the wise ignore insults.”

These are a few one liners from Proverbs, New Century Version. You can find them is you look. I left out the reference points on purpose. Dig into the word and route out foolish behavior.