Some people are so stuck in their own world of foolishness that they take no interest in learning a different way. And often it’s best to simply let them go and face the consequences of their own foolishness. At other times, the fool threatens what is true and good and must be resisted.
To be sure, many times it’s foolish to enter a debate with someone not interested in true wisdom or who doesn’t have enough humility to consider another point of view.
Their mind is already made up and we only frustrate ourselves trying to convince them otherwise.
In fact, it’s often our pride of wanting to be right that motivates us to engage with such a person. Their foolishness gets under our skin and we want to put them in their place – to show them they’re not so smart and to vindicate ourselves in the process.
But wisdom and humility on our part compels us to simply let them go and not entertain such foolish debates with them. Reality is their best teacher and we just need to get out of the way.
At the same time, we have the responsibility to speak up and correct any foolish talk that compromises God’s truth and goodness in the world.
Here, we’re not simply trying to be right for our own sakes, rather there’s a greater good we’re fighting for. And we’re not willing to let those we’re responsible to be deceived and misled through the foolishness of others.
Even still, our focus remains on clearly presenting what is true and good to those with responsive hearts. While addressing the foolishness of others, we’re still not wasting our time trying to convince the fool himself.
We become like the fool whenever we enter into foolish debates with him. But we diminish the light of wisdom whenever we don’t speak up and passively let foolish perspectives invade and overtake our homes and communities.
In the end, wisdom and courage is needed. There’s a time to simply ignore the foolishness of others and a time to boldly correct those foolish thoughts that distort God’s truth and goodness in the world.
Photo by Jorge Salvador on Unsplash
