Thursday; May 23

I was visiting with a couple of friends that other day when the discussion turned to dealing with an interesting Old Testament passage.  Proverbs 26:4-5 notes, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.  Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.”.  A superficial reading of this passage may prompt us to want to ask Solomon, “What should we do with fools – challenge them or not?”.   Over the last couple of days I have pondered this quote it and it has given me an interesting thought – maybe this issue isn’t the foolishness of the person, rather in how we deal with them.  Yes, we should address folly and foolishness, but we must do it in a proper way.  In essence, we shouldn’t be foolish in addressing fools.  I don’t know about you, but there have been too many occasions when I have allowed myself to get sucked into insignificant discussions about things that weren’t worth my time.  What’s worse, the further I got into them, the more emotional I became and the less wisdom I displayed.

When we confront people who are espousing or demonstrating folly, let’s remember the old adage that was brought up between my friends the other day:  Don’t wrestle around in the mud with a pig because you will both get dirty – and the pig will enjoy it!  Let’s keep our discussions and debates at a high, appropriate level.  That’s the only way we will be about to stay above the fray and remain unsullied.

Think About It!

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