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A Fly In The Ointment
by Ken Barnes As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor (Ecclesiastes 10: 3 NLT). Closing The Mind But Opening The Mouth Solomon tells us that like a dead fly in a bottle of perfume, a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor. The Book of Proverbs instructs us that, Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions (Proverbs 18:2 NLT). Humility is the pivotal piece here. Humility understands that wisdom is never gained just to promote our own agenda. Self-effort never makes us humble. If we should gain a measure of humility and wisdom due to our own merit, we ultimately will end up being proud of our humility. We can seek wisdom and miss God, but we can never miss wisdom if we seek God first. A Picture or a Mirror? Kris Langham of Through The Word as a "young and prideful" Christian started reading through the Book of Proverbs. It was so obvious to him how foolish people were. He said it was almost "laughable" how stupid people acted sometimes. But it was not long before he started to see that God was not just giving him a picture of a fool, but a mirror image of one. A fool is always blind to his flaws as deception is a by-product of conceit. If you think you are humble you are probably not. I worked for seventeen years as a missionary with Youth With A Mission. My missionary work has taken me to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Ukraine. I hold a Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Commonwealth University. [email protected] Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |