fool | Pedestrian God

Ending Disputes

May 08 2018

I don’t often find myself in quarrels. That’s not because I’m some incredibly selfless, patient, understanding person. Rather, it’s because, at my core, I’m a people pleaser. I want everyone to be happy – and not just happy – but happy with ME at all times.

So Proverbs 20:3 makes me chuckle when I read it:

Honor belongs to the person who ends a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.

How true! There just seem to be some people who go looking for arguments. They get angry over the smallest matters. Rather than explain themselves or make a kind request, they jump straight to the attack.

Just like last Friday. I was trying to accomplish a task for a local nonprofit when someone began to yell at me when I asked for help. When I say “yell,” I mean all-out-angry-you’re-not-better-than-me type words. I was completely caught off guard. Without going into details, I can confidently say that they were being the foolish one. But at the same time, I can’t say that I was gaining honor.

Because even in that situation, I didn’t seek to end the dispute. Honestly, I just waited in stunned silence until the phone call was over. I didn’t provoke the situation and yet I didn’t seek reconciliation either.

Foolishness is Contagious

Sep 30 2014

One of the hardest topics for me to explain to my middle school girls in Sunday School is how to find an appropriate balance between spending time with an unbeliever in order to build a relationship and share Christ and spending too much time with them so that you are the one being influenced to fall away from Christ.

As we’ve studied through Proverbs for all these summer months, one truth that has stuck out is that foolishness is contagious. I was once told by a mother of twin (now 4-year old) boys, that what one brother would never even consider doing, twin brothers will accomplish in record time.

Proverbs 13:20 tells us that “The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”

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Families of a Fool

Sep 18 2014

I sunk my head onto the steering wheel in the parking lot as I listened, for the second time in a year, to a mother weeping on the phone as she tells me that her son has been arrested. She’s crying out to God to give her wisdom and to change her son’s heart.

Proverbs 10:1, “A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.”

What Fools Hate

Sep 12 2014

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.
– Proverbs 1:7

As a child, I memorized that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But to this day if you had asked me to complete the verse, I wouldn’t be able to. As I’ve matured in my faith and spent more time in Scripture, I have found several places in Scripture where this is true.

Fools despise wisdom and discipline. This truth may have been more important for little kid Renae to grasp than knowing the origin of knowledge. I was definitely disciplined on earth much more 12 years ago than I am today.

Let’s couple this well-known verse with another one a mere 15 verses later:

How long, foolish ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?
– Proverbs 1:22

What do you hate?

Hate is a strong word, but I would probably find several items to list in this category. I hate: live insects in my house, eating breakfast without orange juice, all things tomatoes except for ketchup, and using the stall without toilet paper.

My quick response of things that I hate revolve around earthly concerns – my comfort and preferences.

A Fool’s Trust

Sep 06 2014

The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
– Proverbs 28:26

Who are three people in your life that you trust? Who was included in that list – a spouse, employer, friend, pastor?

Did you list yourself?

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