Devotion: Are you a fool?

Are you a fool? That’s not a word we use much anymore, but we all understand what it means. A fool is someone that acts unwisely or lacks judgment. It’s a person who has the capacity to make good decisions and judgments but doesn’t.

I don’t know anyone that would admit to being a fool. It’s easy to see the foolish actions of others, but much tougher to see it in ourselves.

Did you know the Bible has a lot to say about fools? There are 180 verses in the Bible that use the word “fool” or “foolish.”

If we go to Proverbs, there’s all kinds of verses about fools. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

Now the Biblical definition of a fool is a little different from the dictionary. In the Bible, a fool is one who knows the truth of God’s Word and chooses not to obey it or not to believe it. It’s knowing what is right and choosing to go a different direction.

We all know what happens to the foolish man. In the Bible story found in Matthew 7 that we learned as children, the foolish man built his house on the sand. When the storm came, the house on the sand went “splat.”

The lesson God wants us to learn isn’t just for children. It’s for all of us. God wants us to live life successfully and we can only do that if we listen and follow his commands given to us in the Bible. If we don’t listen and obey, then we are being the fool and building our lives on the sand.

I encourage you to take time this week to dig into God’s Word. Spend some time reading and meditating on the great words of wisdom that God has given to us. Then we must simply choose to obey and follow His commands. That’s how I want to live my life and I hope that’s how you want to live yours as well. Don’t be a fool!