Foolishness

“The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.” Proverbs 20:7

There are certain kinds of people that we need to teach our kids to handle with extreme caution. Solomon describes these people as “fools.” There are three Hebrew words used for the term, “fool.” One term refers to a hardheaded person who thinks he needs no advice. The second term refers to a thickheaded person who won’t even listen to advice. And the last term refers to an empty-headed person who doesn’t listen to advice, but does the opposite of good advice and lives a foolish lifestyle. All three of these people are considered to be fools.

This is what we today refer to as, “the wrong crowd.” These are the people intent on being at the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, at the wrong time. They aren’t interested in people pulling them up to a higher level; they are only interested in pulling people down to a lower level. A fool is someone who will not listen to godly advice, will not learn godly counsel, and will not live according to godly wisdom.

There are some people that children need to learn to simply avoid. There is a story about a man who called a telephone number one time. It was the wrong number, but he got a great laugh over the message. The recording said: “I’m not available right now, but I thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I don’t return your call, you are one of the changes.” As parents, we must teach our children when it is time to make changes in relationships.

This is so important not just for earth, but also for eternity. The first thing we should all be teaching our children is that the most important relationship they will ever have is with Jesus Christ. When it comes to knowing, loving, and spending eternity with God, it is all about a right relationship with Jesus Christ. When our children have this relationship, they will have the Holy Spirit inside of them to help guide them as they navigate the rough terrain of friendships, enemies, and fools.

Dear Lord, please give my children wisdom and discernment to recognize and avoid foolish people. Help them to understand the value of wise, godly friends. And help me to teach them well what it looks like to choose friends wisely. In Jesus' name, amen.