“Behold, I have played the fool.” - 1 Samuel 26:21
In Deuteronomy 32:6 Moses looked out at the belligerent children of Israel
who had failed God so many times and said, “Do you thus repay the Lord, O
foolish and unwise people?” The children of Israel were playing the fool. Sadly,
God’s people today continue to play the fool. One way they do so is through
disbelief. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus appeared to two disciples who didn’t
believe that He had risen from the dead. Jesus said to them, “O foolish men and
slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25). To
disbelieve God and His Word is to play the fool.
Another way believers play the fool is through disobedience. In Galatians 3:1
the apostle Paul says, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” And in verse 3 he
says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being
perfected by the flesh?” They started out well but were disobedient and got
caught up in the works of the law.
Still another way Christians play the fool is through desire for the wrong
things. First Timothy 6:9 says, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation
and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires.” If you desire the wrong
things, you play the fool.
Finally, you can play the fool through doing the wrong things. James 3:1317
says that there are two kinds of wisdom. Godly wisdom produces “good behavior”
(v. 13), but foolish wisdom produces “jealousy and selfish ambition” (v. 16). A
self-centered person plays the fool. It’s sad to see so many Christians playing
the fool. It doesn’t make any sense. Why should Christians live as blind,
ignorant, foolish people when they have the wisdom of God?
Paul says at the end of Romans, “I want you to be wise in what is good, and
innocent in what is evil” (16:19). If you have to be a fool at all, be a fool
(unknowing, unacquainted) about evil.
~John MacArthur, Strength for Today devotional
No comments:
Post a Comment