13 The woman Folly is rowdy;
she is gullible and knows nothing.
14 She sits by the doorway of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling to those who pass by,
who go straight ahead on their paths:
16 “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!”
To the one who lacks sense, she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”
18 But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Folly. Foolishness. Lacking sense. All three of these terms are a slap in the face to anyone who is described by them. Nobody wants to be called a fool or to be told their actions are nothing but foolishness. The term fool has come to mean the same thing as idiot, moron, dimwit. And these verses from Proverbs that call Folly a gullible know-nothing would seem to support that definition. But I see foolishness a little differently than just being ignorant. Foolishness is a step beyond just not knowing. A fool is one of two kinds of people: Fool #1) someone who could learn but has no desire to, and Fool #2) someone who understands what is right but chooses to take the wrong path anyway.
In verse 16, the woman (of course) Folly calls out to "whoever is inexperienced" in an effort to get the first kind of fool to join her. As we walk through life, we experience these types of fools every day. Some days we are these types of fools. When we don't listen to the advice of a wise friend who cares about us. When we speak before we have all of the information. When we judge others before getting to know them. In each of these cases, we do not believe we are doing anything wrong. We act according to what we think we know. We could take the time to listen to our friend's heart and carefully consider his or her advice rather than believing we know better, but we don't. We could ask a few questions and make sure we understand the details of a situation before we lash out, but we don't. We could sit down and have a conversation with the person before we believe the gossip we have heard about them, but we don't. We behave foolishly, not because we are incapable of behaving wisely, but because we choose to act in ignorance rather than seeking wisdom. As we grow as people and as Christians, we are constantly encountering situations that are new. No matter how old we get, there are areas in which we are inexperienced. We need wisdom. And when we fail to acknowledge our need for wisdom or fail to take a deep breath and realize we have a need for wisdom, our inexperience often leads us in the wrong direction, causing us to sin.
The next type of person Folly beckons is "the one who lacks sense." This type of fool is just as common as the first. And we, as Christians, are just as guilty of being this type of fool as the other. This type of fool KNOWS the right thing to do but CHOOSES to do what is wrong. We know lying is wrong, but we do it anyway. We know it's wrong to gossip, but we do it anyway. We know it's wrong to eat that entire cake, but we do it anyway. These types of fools are the worst because they are so very intentionally foolish. And I am as guilty as the next person. Verse 17 says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!” And Folly is right about that, at least some of the time. Because sometimes getting away with a lie is a bit exhilarating. Sometimes gossiping feeds our curiosity and we actually enjoy it. Sometimes we feel accomplished when we eat that entire cake that no one even knew we bought. And that is the rub. Sometimes, just sometimes, sin is fun. Yep. I said it. We know we are sinning, and we do it anyway because it's fun.
And we break God's heart.
We aren't here to feed our curiosity. We aren't here to be exhilarated. We aren't here to have fun. We are here to love others and to love God. And gossip hurts. Lies hurt. Gluttony hurts (believe me). The fun doesn't last, guys. But it's almost like we forget every time. And we just do it again. Hurting God. Hurting others. Hurting ourselves. We are fools. We have the capability to gain wisdom and to act with wisdom, but we CHOOSE not to. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a bunch of dimwits to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment