Thursday, September 7, 2006

The Wise and the Foolish (concluding "Labor Day" thoughts)

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." (Matt. 7:24-27)

Sometimes it gets a little hard to decipher the wise from the foolish because they both 'work' similar activities. In this passage both men were builders. Both must have been 'hard workers.' They both must have had some type of work ethic, high expectation, and a great degree of perseverance to accomplish their building project. It wasn't until after the storm that we see whose house stands manifesting the wise choice of building ones house upon a rock, as opposed to the sand. Education is good, Christian education is even better, but having a degree or even several degrees does not necessarily mean that such a person is 'wise,' at least not in God's opinion. In 'common grace' it truly is hard to distinguish the wise from the foolish. But not when it comes to God's revealed Word. The man who truly hears and obeys God's Word is the wise one. The man who chooses to ignore God's Word is the foolish one. Everything in between may be hard to sort out, but as the adage goes 'it all comes out in the wash.' The foolish man cannot produce the inevitable results that can only stem from obedience to God's Word.

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