November 18, 2011 … The Words of a Fool

Passage of the Day: Proverbs 10: 20 … The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

My Journal for Today: As we’ve seen this month, according to God’s word and His truth, His wisdom begins when we reverence His Name and we live according to His standards. However, the fool of this world, as we noted yesterday, rejects Godly wisdom and lives by his own “natural” ways (see also Prov. 1: 7 and 1st Cor. 2: 14).

As John MacArthur points out in today’s Strength for Todayentry, “the fool” is quick to blurt out his own, selfishly considered opinions. And nothing gives biblical evidence more to this than in Proverbs 15: 2, where it says that “… the tongue of the fool gushes folly.” You’ve heard the fool in our world, especially when/if you know that he is spouting foolishness in direct contradiction to God’s word. The foolishness gushes forth from his mouth like projectile vomiting; and unfortunately, in our politically correct world, sometimes that folly seems to carry the day.

But as we read in James 3: 8 – 12, both bad and good water cannot come forth from the same spring; and the poison that comes from the mouth of the fool, if consumed, pollutes all it contacts. And the foolishness and poison from the hearts/minds/mouths of today’s fools are proliferating at an incredible pace, even from the pulpits of many of today’s churches or from televangelists who purport to be “Christian teachers.” These Satan-honoring words and ideas not only contaminate our world with the ideals they espouse; but sadly they condemn the fools who propagate them. That condemnation may not come from the world at this time (it seldom seems to these days!); but ultimately, as you can read in Prov. 16: 22, it will come from God. So, I pray that I’ll be aware of my own heart of foolishness and avoid its selfish desire to gush forth, restraining myself until I can speak truth from God’s mind.

As Christians we are blessed to have access to the very mind of God, especially being expressed by His Spirit through His word; and when we open ourselves to that fount of wisdom, sharing it with others in His Name and for His glory, our ideas and words express Godly wisdom and reflect His power (see Isaiah 55: 11).

Hence, we move on this month, and prayerfully for life, in our pursuit of God’s way through His word.

My Prayer Today: Speak Your word through my life, Lord! Amen

November 17, 2011 … Living In A World of Fools

Passage of the Day: Proverbs 24: 7a … Wisdom is too high for a fool; …

My Journal for Today: John MacArthur writes, in his devotional from Strength for Today for this date, “… we live in a world of fools.” Wow [!]; … how could one read the news and disagree with that? How could one see what’s going on in Washington, DC and disagree with that? How could I view what I’ve done in my past and disagree? Until I was 39 years old, for almost 22 years of my life I was a captive of my sin nature, … bound and gagged in foolishness. Godly wisdom, as today’s verse proclaims, was way out of my scope of reasoning during that time of my life.

Macarthur indicates that there are three things which mark “the fool” in today’s world …

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#1. The fool denies God (see Psalm 14: 1), living as if there were no God. It’s what MacArthur calls, “practical atheism,” … a life of corruption and idolatry.

#2. The fool becomes his own God (see Prov. 12: 15a), worshipping and living for self rather than for The Savior, which again is self-indulgent idolatry.

#3. And the fool mocks sin (see Prov. 14: 9a), making up his own rules and being his own standard to justify sinful behavior. His way becomes the “right” way.
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Yes, that was me prior to 1977 … a selfish “fool,” who finally looked into God’s mirror of truth and saw myself for whom I really was. However, when I first saw the reality of myself in that mirror, I ran, seeking for wisdom in all the wrong places, … primarily into spiritual thought processes managed by the enemy … “religions” such as Buddhism, Taoism, and New Age-ism. But in 1983, I finally was able to look into God’s mirror of true wisdom and, by God’s grace, sense Christ calling me; and I stepped away from foolishness and moved toward real wisdom. And to a great degree, though I’ve had some fool-hardy selfish detours and distractions along the way, I’ve come to live in the convicted direction of Psalm 119: 9-11, Luke 9: 23, Prov. 3: 5-6, and Romans 12: 1-2 , which, if internalized, shows any born-again sinner-saint how to stay on track and follow God.

Yes, all believers still must contend with the residuals of our sin nature (Rom. 3: 23 and Jer. 17: 9); but now, as born-again believers, we have God’s spirit to bring us toward God’s wisdom and away from worldly foolishness (Gal. 2: 20 and 1st John 4: 4). I don’t have to walk the way of the fool any more; and neither do you if you’ve truly surrendered to Christ and His Spirit.

What is your path these days? Don’t you think it’s time we all get off the selfish track and follow the Savior?

My Prayer Today: Fill me, Lord, that I may never be the worldly fool. Amen