Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Danger of the Foolish Heart

Prov 29.1 A man who remains stiffnecked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed- without remedy

The danger of the foolish heart is that it can and does remain foolish. The only way that one can truly come to the place of enlightenment or wisdom is by receiving the correction for your foolishness. Too often the rebellious heart fails to come to the place of humility to receive truth. Usually, there is a desire in the heart of the unrepentant and rebellious to prove their superiority on some level. For the playground bully it is physical violence; for the rebellious teenage son it is the alternate lifestyle; for the unrepentant and fallen minister it can be slander and blaming others for his own actions.

I have seen, unfortunately, the lives of ministers crumble under the unweildy weight of their own foolishness. Some even blame the church or even their former bosses for their own demise. They are stuck. They cannot push beyond the place of their failure and foolishness because they refuse to admit that they are the fool. So they lie to others, they try desperately to justify themselves and their actions, they push the blame and they continue on in their pride. It is sad that they cannot get beyond their foolishness. They louder they cry for vindication of their foolishness, the more they reveal the rebellion that caused their failures and foolishness. Sad really. They just need to heed the rebuke.

Fortunately for us fools, God desires our hearts to repent. He longs to connect with us- so desperately that he brings people into our path to rebuke us. Now no one likes to be rebuked- but the Lord sends them as an act of mercy. Certainly, we don't want to be rebuked by people who are no better than us. But the story of Balaam in the book of Numbers shows that God is willing to us even a donkey to rebuke us so that we don't persist in our sin.

Heeding the rebuke demands a humility. The casting off of one's own blaming others and the casting off of reinventing history and covering tracks. It demands full dsiclosure of your foolishness. An admission of guilt. This is what makes it so hard to turn from foolishness to walk in the wise way. But the fact that destruction comes to the fool suddenly and surely is an additional incentive. I have seen it happen a number of times. Fools who persisted in their own ways and brought destruction on the lives of their children, their marriage, and their businesses.

As one fool to another- heed the rebuke, gain a heart of wisdom, repentant, and find joy again in your life.

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