Foolproof
No. 13: A New Compendium for our Journey with Jesus
The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. -Proverbs 12:15
Randy’s Introduction
We all have morning routines. How we button our shirts, when we brush our teeth, and what we eat for breakfast. All are determined by our habits. These morning habits are tailored to our lives. We trust our intuition about these habits. We couldn’t live without them.
Our routines don’t stop when we leave the house. The vast majority of our actions throughout the day are habitual. We don’t stop and consider our options when we cross the road to our workplace, or when we head over to our work desk, or when we sit down and place our hands on specific keys on our computer keyboard. We do these automatically so that we can focus our energies on the many other things that do need our decision-making.
Nevertheless, Jesus-followers need to make time to consider our habitual actions and ensure that they are in line with our commitment to Christ. It isn’t easy to do, but we’ve inherited a wonderful book, tried and true by hundreds of generations, which can help us. That book is commonly known as the Book of Proverbs.
As discussed in the post, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, the over 900 proverbs in the book can equip us to reflect on our daily habits and see if they are serving us. For example, we can look for any resemblance between our way of living and the way of life of two main characters in the Proverbs, “the fool” and “the wise.” I may be dating myself but I remember turning the latest “Highlights” magazine for children to a cartoon entitled, “Goofus and Gallant.” Goofus always did foolish things and gallant did the honorable thing. Their response to the same situations taught young readers how to respond to different situations in their lives. The fool and the wise in Proverbs serves a similar purpose for adults.
For example, one of the key differences between “the fool” and “the wise” in Proverbs is the ability to consider our habitual actions and to test whether or not these habits are making good happen in our lives, relationships, and community. The fool either refuses to look in the mirror or looks in the mirror of the Bible and quickly forgets what they have seen.1 Either way, they continue with their actions regardless of the consequences to themselves or others. In contrast, the wise look, remember, and make the necessary changes to live more in line with their commitments.
In this post, we consider how our habits measure up by considering the biblical description of “the fool.” In the next post, we will get clearer on what our habits could be, indeed, need to be, as followers of Jesus, by reflecting on Proverbs’ description of “the wise.”
Definitions
FOOL, n.s.
ˈfül
Merriam-Webster, Contemporary
1: a person lacking in judgment or prudence.
2a: a retainer formerly kept in great households to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble.
b: one who is victimized or made to appear foolish : dupe.
3a: a person lacking in common powers of understanding or reason.
b: one with a marked propensity or fondness for something.
Samuel Johnson Dictionary, 1773
1. One to whom nature has denied reason; a natural; an idiot.
2. A term of indignity and reproach.
3. One who counterfeits folly; a buffoon; a jester.
4. To play the Fool. To play pranks like a hired jester; to jest; to make sport.
5. To play the Fool. To act like one void of common understanding.
6. To make a Fool of. To disappoint; to defeat.
The Book of Proverbs, Ancient Hebrew, 10th century B.C.
Fools are unwilling to learn from those who have gone before them.2
Fools trust in their own views without reflection.3
They delight in airing their unproven opinions to others.4
Fools spread slander.5
Fools are quick to quarrel.6
The foolish are quick to express their emotions.7
Fools are motivated by conspiracy theories and take pleasure in corrupt schemes of their own.8
Fools are driven by those things that surface their hidden and unquenched desires.9
Fools repeat habits and opinions that only bring harm to themselves and those they love.10
Etymology
Samuel Johnson traced the word to three languages: ffol, Welsh; fol, Icelandic; fol, French. The word “fool” has been used in English for at least 500 years. in the 1400s it was used to describe a "silly, stupid, or ignorant person," from Old French fol "madman, insane person; idiot; rogue; jester," as well as "blacksmith's bellows from Vulgar Latin use of follis in a sense of "windbag, empty-headed person."
Also from the 15th century is the phrase “make fool "to deceive, make (someone) appear a fool.” Over the centuries other phrases developed such as:
Fool's paradise (foles paradyce) "illusory state of happiness based on ignorance or erroneous judgment" from the mid-15th century.
Foolosopher, as an insult, is found in a 1549 translation of Erasmus.
To make a fool of (someone) "cause to appear ridiculous" in the 1620s.
Fool's gold "iron pyrite" from 1829.
“The word has in modern English a much stronger sense than it had at an earlier period; it has now an implication of insulting contempt which does not in the same degree belong to any of its synonyms, or to the derivative foolish.”11
How It Makes Good Happen
Did you notice how much more useful the biblical definition is than the dictionary definitions for our purpose? There is at least a bit of the fool in all of us. Merriam-Webster and Samuel Johnson’s definitions equip us to see the fool in others. But Proverbs’ mirror encourages us, not just to identify the splinter in other people’s eyes but to get clearer on the plank in our own. It equips us to:
Identify specific areas of foolishness in our lives.
Consider where we learned such habits and assumptions.
Test them and see if they makegoodhappen in our lives.
And begin the process of replacing certain habits and assumptions with new and more fruitful practices in our daily life.
Traditionally, Jesus-followers have labeled the above process “confession, forgiveness, and repentance.” But let’s fill those words out a little more as we look at our reflection:
Which of the Biblical definitions of the fool (above) do you see traces of in your life?
Under what situations do those foolish traits appear in you?
Where did you learn to act this way?
What are the results of your response in these situations?
What are some different approaches you have seen other people take that get better results and that you could emulate?
How specifically will you begin to develop new assumptions and habits?
In writing, describe to God a specific foolish habit of yours, ask forgiveness (from God and those hurt by it), and pray for the strength to develop your new habit. Set a plan to revisit this prayer regularly over the next few months.
Journal your steps forward in your walk with Jesus as you continue to pray your prayer and reflect on its results.
The next post in this series will focus on biblical wisdom, which, while not exactly the opposite of foolishness, will help us continue to go deeper with Jesus by seeing more clearly the fullness of what we can be in Christ.
James 1:23-24: Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
For example, Proverbs 1:7, 1:22, 14:1, 15:5, 15:20, 17:21, 17:25, 19:13.
For example, Proverbs 12:15, 13:19, 14:16, 30:32.
For example, Proverbs 10:8, 12:23, 18:7, 20:3.
For example, Proverbs 10:18, 15:2, 19:1.
For example, Proverbs 14:3, 14:17, 20:3.
For example, Proverbs 12:16, 12:23, 18:6, 29:11.
For example, Proverbs 10:23, 15:14, 28:26, 30:32.
For example, Proverbs 10:18, 15:7, 23:9.
For example, Proverbs 10:1, 17:12, 18:2, 26:11.
From the Oxford English Dictionary definition.