foolish or wise Archives – Sonshine's Journal

Prov 12 Proverbs are wise sayings explained through illustrations, but wisdom “has never appealed to proud intellectuals who consider themselves beyond the simplicity of God’s truth.” [Dr. Constable]

Looking back at Proverbs 6, we are told to consider the ant and how she wisely prepares and works. Aesop captured those principles in a fable about the ant and the grasshopper. Whereas the ant wisely prepared for the winter months, the grasshopper spent his time playing his fiddle. When winter came, and the grasshopper was hungry, the ant reminded him there was a time for work and play. In the NT, Jesus used the parable of the homebuilders of the wise and foolish to show that principle in real life. While the wise built on rock which took time, patience, and planning, the fool built his house on sand which was impulsive and quick. [Matt 7:24-27] Just like the grasshopper fable, when the winter storms came, all was lost. The Israelites also failed to learn the lessons as well and spent forty years wandering in the desert.

The MSG captures this lesson: If you love learning, you love the discipline that goes with it-how shortsighted to refuse correction! [Prov 12:1] We must be hearers of the words; learn from them and put them into practice, which is true wisdom.

Prov 12 reminds us of this principle: The inspired word of God is “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” [2Tim 3:16]

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Jesus gave us a practical illustration of this title in the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25. Five were wise and five were foolish. We are to determine who these are which directly follows the parable he taught in Matthew 24 of the faithful and unfaithful slaves. Both the wise virgins and the faithful slaves are those who are prepared while serving and waiting for the Master’s return. In 2Timothy 4 Paul urges his beloved child in the Lord to not only be that wise virgin and faithful slave but also to persevere to prepare others. But, alas, Paul said then as now, there will also be amongst us those who are the foolish virgins and the unfaithful slaves who merely profess but do not possess. These are also the “tares” amongst us; they look like the true thing but when the time comes they are unprepared and unready to meet the Master.

Those who are the wise and faithful are those who possess the gift of eternal life and the indwelling Holy Spirit. They are the true children of God as John tells us through his gospel. They are the ones who seek to study to show themselves approved; they are serving faithfully; they use the tool of inspired scripture and allow the Holy Spirit to correct their thinking, their actions, their motives and their deeds.

Those who are the foolish and unfaithful are those who profess to be believers but they “will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.” These do not hear nor heed the messages about sin and the need for salvation, but they turn away from such. They have fallen victim to the fables of the false teachers who say you must earn your way to heaven OR God only loves you when you are good OR you need to love self first before you can love others OR they say God would not send anyone to hell for He is a God of love. Paul warns Timothy about these teachers and instructs him to “Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction.”

Today, are you in the Word seeking instruction from the Word? Are you are a possessor or merely a professor? Are you sitting under those who explain and interpret the Word of God as it was written, or those that read one’s own ideas into the Word in order to “prove” a pre-held point; imposing their own interpretation into and onto the text? Be discerning; be trained to “have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” [Heb 5:14] Are you amongst the wise or foolish virgins; are you a faithful or unfaithful slave?

Tag: foolish or wise

Wise or Foolish?

“Possessor or Professor?”