Monday, September 24, 2018

Measuring Strength

Monday, September 24, 2018

Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.  Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.  You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.  Proverbs 27:20-22(NLT)

When it comes to what humans want, nothing is ever enough!  If a child has a handful of M&M’s they want a truckload.  If they had access to a truckload, they’d wonder how they could get their hands on a fleet of trucks.  And so, it goes…
As adults the equation doesn’t change.  What does change is the size, complexity, and cost of the M&M pile.  It’s like the old rhyme:  There is no difference between men and boys…only in the size and cost of their toys.
Our proverb writer takes a step farther into this deep truth – a fool will remain a fool.  The question becomes:  How can you measure foolishness?  One test for measuring the strength of human integrity (which is the opposite of foolishness) is praise from other humans.  The proverb master suggests that if you want to know if you’re dealing with a fool, praise him.  A fool will respond to any kind of praise and crave more; those with integrity of character may accept a compliment, but it will not change them. 
And a measure of strong character is always why we do what we do.  I am a preacher, called into the ministry of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is not MY ministry, it is a gift with which Christ has blessed my life.  The call compels me to use my time, spiritual gifts, and whatever strength I have, to bring praise to the name of Jesus.  If I am to carry-out this calling with integrity it will NOT be by fishing for compliments on how well I do it; that’s not fulfilling my call – it is pandering my call to satisfy my foolish pride.
That sometimes gets dicey.  In social situations we remember mother’s advice to keep quiet if we don’t have something nice to say.  But some of us, particularly people pleasers, go beyond silence and praise others just to pump them up.  It’s a nice lie.
But what does that say about our moral center?  Should we offer (untrue) praise, just because it makes fools happy?
Well, this whole discussion can lead to a downward corkscrew of what constitutes flattery, and what is appropriate praise.  And the whole thing becomes a semantic morass of acceptable vs. unacceptable words.
Rather, applying the principle that foolishness is empty, and integrity with humility is everything, we should aspire to put praise – words from another flawed human – in its’ proper place and appreciate the thought, but never place enough weight on praise to make it our end goal.  The real goal of a human life is to please God, and fools cannot do that. 

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  Proverbs 1:7(NLT)

For You Today
To walk through this life as a wise person, and not a fool, is simply a matter of surrendering your life to pleasing God.  All else is foolishness, and it fails the test of measuring true strength!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.com

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