Category Archives: Foolishness

Bible, Claims, Foolishness, Fools, Scripture

FALSE CLAIMS

ROMANS 1:22

“Claiming to be wise, they became fools,”

People claim stuff all the time. They claim to be someone they’re not. They claim to have stuff they don’t. They even claim to have certain college degrees or experience which they don’t. False claims are like that leaky bucket you’ve tried to use – they just don’t hold water. The truth always comes out in the end.

Paul is still addressing these confused, dark hearted individuals in today’s verse. He uses a word for “claiming” that is only used two other times in the New Testament, both in the book of Acts (24:9; 25:19). The word comes from the Greek word phemi which means “see there.” It can be translated as “affirm.” It has the idea of putting one statement over others. It’s close to boasting but look at the result in this verse. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” Wow! That’s a turnaround, isn’t it?

APPLICATION

We need to make sure what we say is true. These individuals thought they had all the answers but were dead wrong. The word for “fools” is mórainó. It’s the same word Paul uses in 1 Corinithians 1:20d, “Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?” The greatest minds known to mankind are fools in comparison to the wisdom of God.

We get our word “moron” from the root of this word. Have you ever been called a moron or heard someone else called that? It’s pretty demeaning, isn’t it? It means that person is dull or stupid. Most of the time they aren’t. They are just confused about the truth of the situation or lack the knowledge or experience to do what is asked.

There is a verse we memorize in our ministry (Every Man A Warrior) that talks about this. It’s Proverbs 18:13. “He who answers before listening, that is his folly and his shame.” We all need to listen well and speak only the truth. Everything else is folly. That’s what Paul is saying in today’s verse. They trusted their own intellect or traditions over the truth from God’s Word. That will make any of us fools. I had rather be a fool for Jesus.

Lord, help me live today trusting everything You say.

If the Lord should lead you to support our ministry, check out our ministry page at Trans World Radio (www.twr.org/carl-willis). 

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Bible, Darkness, Foolishness, Heart, Scripture, Sin

DARK HEARTS

ROMANS 1:21

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”

Almost every day we read headlines of another senseless murder. Yesterday, I read about a couple who were killed while on a hike with their two young daughters (thankfully, they were spared). As I write the killer is still at large. What a dark, dark heart, full of evil, to do such a thing. They not only took two innocent lives, but they also left two young girls without their parents. I only pray they did not witness the brutality.

Paul writes about these dark hearts in today’s verse. The word translated as “senseless” can also be translated as “wicked” or “without understanding.” And the word for “were darkened” is always used to refer to sin or judgment. It’s the word skotizó and refers to the absence of the light of Christ. Thanks be to God, we know how to rid the world of that darkness – the eternal light of God displayed through His Son, Jesus.

APPLICATION

In Romans 11:10, Paul uses skotizó again when he quotes Psalm 69:23 to describe the darkening of the minds of Israel. “‘MAY THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS CONTINUALLY.’” Israel refused to see Jesus as their Messiah, but long before that they had darkened their eyes to the light of God. We see that even today in the nation of Israel. Many there are Jewish by birth but not in heart. They have become darkened to God.

I am not disrespecting the nation of Israel. America is no better. We have long proclaimed ourselves as a Christian nation, but many in our country have darkened their hearts to God. So, I am not pointing fingers at Israel. This is true for mankind in general. What’s the cure for this darkness? The light of Christ, as I said earlier.

How’s your heart today? Is it dark with the unconfessed sins of your past or is it full of light? You have heard it said, “Confession is good for the soul.” Well, confession also erases the darkness and allow the light of Christ to shine, not only in you but also on others. Let your light shine today.

Father, erase the darkness of my soul and fill me with Your inexhaustible light!

If the Lord should lead you to support our ministry, check out our ministry page at Trans World Radio (www.twr.org/carl-willis). 

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Bible, Foolishness, God's Will, Promises, Scripture, Understanding

DON’T BE A FOOL

EPHESIANS 5:17

“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” 

A quote that is attributed to Abraham Lincoln is “It is better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Charles Spurgeon once had a note placed on the pulpit where he was preaching that simply said, “Fool.” He said to the audience, “Well, I have had many notes and letters written to me that were left unsigned. This is the first one that was signed but had no message.”

No one wants to be considered foolish or to be called a fool. In Galatians, Paul calls them “You foolish Galatians” because they were going back to their former thinking and denying his teachings. Here in Ephesians 5:17, he tells the Ephesians to “not be foolish.” He said instead for them to “understand what the will of the Lord is.” That can be a tall order, can’t it? How many times have you wondered what the Lord’s will was for you? Too many to count, right?

APPLICATION

Does that make you a fool? No, I don’t think so. If we are pursuing His will, we are not being foolish. But to know it and ignore, that is definitely foolish. The word used here for “foolish” means someone who just does not understand cause and effect. They don’t seem to grasp that every decision we make has consequences. They may be good or bad, but they will come. When we pursue God’s will, good things follow. I don’t mean bad things won’t happen. I do mean that the ultimate consequence of our following God’s will is good.

In Luke 11:40, Jesus called the Pharisees “You foolish ones” because they were more concerned in keeping the ceremonial laws than in obeying God. Sometimes we can do a right thing and be miles away from God’s will. That is foolish. Understanding God’s will may take time. He may disclose His will to you in pieces, not all at once. That’s okay.

Do you want to be foolish? I don’t think so. Do you want to understand God’s will? Probably. I say probably because you may not. It may cost you something you are not willing to give up. I am sorry, but that is foolish. What God requires is always better than what we want. Trust Him. Seek Him. His will is not a best kept secret. He wants to reveal it to you. Don’t be a fool!

Lord, forgive my foolishness for not seeking Your will more readily.

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Bible, Defiled, Foolishness, Jesting, Praise, Scripture, Thanksgiving

CHOOSE YOUR MESSAGE WISELY

EPHESIANS 5:4

“and there must be no filthiness or foolish talk, or vulgar joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”

I have to admit that before I came to Christ, my language was a little salty. I didn’t talk filthy, but I did use curse words more than I should have. And I heard and told my fair share of dirty jokes in the locker room. It’s amazing how Jesus can clean up your language once you give your tongue to Him.

Paul uses three words in this verse that are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. “Filthiness” is aischrote which means obscene, or indecent conversation, literally, that which is shameful, or deformed. “Foolish talk” is mōrologia which refers to idle chitchat, words that serve no purpose. And finally, “vulgar joking” is the word eutrapelia which mean coarse jesting. I think it is interesting that Paul uses these particular words which are only used once in the New Testament. What does that mean to you?

APPLICATION

Paul then turns his attention to proper speech, a proper message. He says, “but rather giving of thanks.” What a contrast! Instead of filthy, foolish or vulgar talk, we are to give thanks. Sure, Carl! Are you saying that all we are to talk about is what we are thankful for? In a way, yes. Do I do that all the time? No, but I should.

The next time you are tempted to say something you shouldn’t about someone, pause and give thanks to God for that person. I believe God puts hard people in our paths to perfect us. If we never had challenges, how would we grow? Now, I am not saying that I do this perfectly. In fact, I miserably fail at this. There are people in my life that challenge me. But as my wife said to me last night, I need to give them to the Lord.

We need to spend a lot more time sending out that message of gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for, even when our circumstances are trying. God is faithful. He knows exactly what you are going through. Give Him praise! Thank Him! Tell others you are thankful. Their response to your praise may surprise you.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

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Bible, Foolishness, Scripture, Wisdom, World

ARE YOU FOOLISH?

GALATIANS 3:1

“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”

Those are fighting words! Don’t call me a fool! Unless of course you are calling me a fool for Jesus. That is okay. We’ll get to that later. Being called a fool by someone is demeaning. It’s a put down. We don’t like it, do we? So, why in the world would Paul use such language in this letter? Let’s take a look.

You have to remember that in the original letter to the Galatians, there were no chapters and verses. Verse 21 of chapter two ran right into verse 1 of chapter 3. The discourse Paul had just recounted between he and Peter is followed by this statement. He is warning the Galatian churches to not be “bewitched” by those who wanted to deceive them into believing they needed to add anything to God’s grace shown through Jesus. He is literally saying, “Wake up! Don’t you see what they are trying to do?”

APPLICATION

It wasn’t uncommon for the early believers to be called foolish by the world. They were thought to be idiots and unwise because of their faith. I love what Proverbs 12:15 says though, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a person who listens to advice is wise.” The wisest advice you will ever receive is to turn to Jesus. Paul was reminding the Galatians about this.

I need to do something here that I normally would not do. I need to include a long passage in which Paul fully explains this paradox between the wisdom of God and the foolishness of the world. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 says,

“18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: ‘I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, I WILL CONFOUND.’ 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind.”

Did you see what Paul was saying? The world sees us as fools because of our belief, because of our trust in His Word. So, go ahead, be called a fool for Jesus. Wear that like a badge of honor. He will exalt you!

Lord, I will be a fool for You. I will stand true to Your Word when everyone around me berates me.

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Accountability, Following, Foolishness, God's Will, Guilt, Hiding, Judgment, Rebellion, Scripture

THINK I’LL GO SAILING

JONAH 1:3

“But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship that was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD.”

Have you ever wanted to just run away from a situation? You couldn’t face it anymore. You had to go somewhere, anywhere else. Your present circumstances were unbearable. People were expecting too much from you. You had to have some space. You didn’t care how much it cost you, you had to get away.

Well…Jonah was faced with a situation. God had clearly told him what to do – go to Nineveh and preach His message of repentance. Not Jonah. Not this time. Sure, he loved God, but this was asking too much. The Ninevites? Are you kidding? So he gets on a boat going in the opposite direction. He wanted as much distance as he could get between himself and Nineveh.

APPLICATION

You can run, but you can’t hide. God knows where you are. Running away won’t solve the problem. When you stop, the problem is still there. You may not see it now, but it’s still right where you left it. When will we learn?

Instead of running away, run to Him. He’s waiting with open arms. He is saying, “Come child. Let me carry your burden.” Why don’t you let Him have it? He wants it. He can handle it. Don’t be like Jonah. We’ll see how that ends up in a few days.

The older I get the less I want to run. For one thing, my feet can’t do it anymore. But my spirit now doesn’t want to either. I see no benefit of running from God. I choose to run towards Him. It is a whole lot easier. Why don’t you give it a try today?

O Lord, I run to You. Take me in Your strong arms.

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Advice, Betrayal, Bible, Denial, Foolishness, Judgment, Lies, Modeling, Obedience, Respect, Scripture, Surrender

NOSE THUMBER

HOSEA 10:3

“Certainly now they will say, ‘We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. As for the king, what can he do for us?’”

I have known a few people who thumbed their nose at God. I had a coworker once who wanted nothing to do with God or me. I was the Chaplain at a children’s home, so I represented God to him. He really didn’t like me because of that. He was constantly speaking badly about our chapel services and ridiculed the decisions the children were making. He did not revere the Lord.

Israel did not revere the Lord. They had no respect for their king either. They had lost all their allegiance to anyone except themselves, and that was failing. So, they were also thumbing their noses at God. He wasn’t doing what they wanted, so they were done with Him. They wanted God to serve them, to meet all their needs. Anything less was useless to them.

APPLICATION

What is your view of God? You may expect God to meet all your needs when you want Him to. You may think the Lord is kind of like Santa Claus. And when He doesn’t “perform” you put Him aside. That is not the way God works. He is not on your timetable.

But, oh listen to me. God wants to work in your life. He has such grand plans for you and me. We have to lay down our plans and allow Him to work in and through us. We will never know the heights to which He can take us unless we lay down our own self made plans. Will you do that today?

I am still learning how to lay down my plans. I am a planner and there are times when I get tired of waiting on God. Don’t judge me. I am sure you have done that. But when I do wait on Him, His plan makes so much better sense. You would think I would have learned this by now. Keep me in your prayers, and I will pray for you, too.

Father, I don’t want to ever caste You aside. You are the center of all I do. I want to honor You.

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Accountability, Blessing, Encouragement, Foolishness, Greed, Inheritance, Modeling, Scripture, Testimony

WASTED BLESSING

HOSEA 9:13

“Ephraim, as I have seen, is planted in a pasture like Tyre; but Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.”

So many people waste their parents’ inheritance. I have seen people scrimp and save for decades to give something to their children, only to see it used up in months, if not weeks. They were blessed by their parents, but they just ignored the sacrifice their parents made for them. How sad is that?

Ephraim had been blessed by Jacob. Remember, Ephraim was one of Joseph’s sons who received the blessing, along with his brother, Manasseh. And when the tribe of Ephraim received their inheritance of the land in the Promised Land, they received a beautiful land. But they abused it. They turned their back on the Lord.

APPLICATION

What blessing are you wasting? Look at your life. Look at all the Lord has done for you. Look at all He has given you. We are so incredibly blessed. Just to have a roof over our heads and food in our stomach is enough. Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:8 “But if we have food and clothes, we will be content with that.”

I want to challenge you to take an inventory of your blessings today. Get out a sheet of paper or grab your laptop or tablet and start listing them. You will be amazed. We overlook the little things like a bed to sleep in or a bathroom to get cleaned up in. How about taking a look in your closet? How many pairs of shoes do you own? Blessing!

I am overwhelmed when I walk into my house each day. I do not deserve it. I am thankful for it and realize it is a gift from God, but I don’t deserve. I don’t want to ever forget the blessings I have received from the Lord. I want to share them with others. I want to pass on the blessings to those who are less fortunate than I am. Let’s do that today.

God, I am so unworthy. I don’t deserve all You have blessed me with, but I am thankful. You are a mighty God, worthy of my praise.

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Accountability, Betrayal, Bible, Choices, Deceit, Foolishness, God's Will, Judgment, Obedience, Rebuke, Scripture, Sin

DON’T BET ON IT

HOSEA 9:2

“Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them.”

Back in 2008 our economy went through a downturn. A lot of people lost a lot of money in those months. In fact, my wife and I lost about one third of our retirement funds. It happened quickly. It was unexpected. Funds we thought would be there in years to come year were gone almost overnight.

Israel thought their harvest and wine would be there for them to enjoy. After all, they had worked for those harvests. They had produced that wine. Why wouldn’t it be there for them to enjoy? They really thought they could do as they pleased and still be blessed by God. Not so!

APPLICATION

Are you betting on your future? Are you relying on what you’ve achieved or on God? We put so much energy in planning for our future. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s smart to plan ahead. But we can’t leave God out of the equation. He has to be part of what we are planning. God may have plans for you that you can’t even begin to imagine.

So, how do you plan for your future? You start on your knees. You ask the Lord what He would have you do. This goes for your money, as well. Don’t you think the Lord wants you to be provided for? Of course, He does. He doesn’t want to see His children struggle unless…. Perhaps He wants to use you to show others how to depend on Him. Perhaps He wants to use you to be that example of faith that can only we experienced as we go through trials and hardships. But He still loves you and wants what is best for you.

My future is in the Lord’s hands. Stepping out at sixty years old and starting to raise support for a new ministry is not something I planned. But He has led me to do just that. It’s an exciting adventure. I can’t wait to see what He does in and through me in the months and years to come. I can’t count on the threshing floor or winepress. God has other plans, and I’m all in.

I am thankful that my blessings are promised through You. I will love and serve You because I know You will walk with me through the hardest times.

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Alone, Bible, Deception, Devil, Foolishness, Judgment, Loyalty, Obedience, Opponents, Satan, Scripture, Slaves

WILD DONKEYS

HOSEA 8:9

“For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has paid fees for lovers.”

We have all seen wildlife shows where lions or jackals attack a herd. Have you ever noticed which animal they go after? They attack the young, the weak and the ones who are isolated from the herd. Those animals are easy picking. They lack the protection of the herd.

Hosea compares Israel to a wild donkey that is all alone. They were carried off to Assyria and became a target. Being alone in a foreign land was scary enough but being alone was worse. Assyria carried them there and put them in cities as slaves. They were scattered. They were without their God. They were alone!

APPLICATION

Are you feeling alone? There is no need to feel that way. If you are a believer, you have a family of believers all around you. You need their fellowship and their support. You cannot walk safely on your own. Just like that lone wild donkey, you are a target for the enemy. Satan loves to find a lone believer. His schemes make us easy prey when we are alone.

I belong to a couple of men’s groups that I do life with. They are my allies. They encourage me in my daily walk with Christ and hold me accountable when I fall. They are my brothers. I would not want to even try to live without them. I can tell them anything and know they will hold it confidential.

Having fellow believers around you serves as protection. We can all be on the alert. We can all sound the alarm. When we see a fellow believer all alone, we need to reach out and surround them. They may not know how alone they are and how vulnerable they are. Don’t let them do this alone.

I am so glad I have a family of believers to walk with me, Lord. Help me reach out to those who need others.

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