Tiny Devotional for Wednesday, 06-14-2023

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, one of the eggs was FROZEN.


The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way,
But the foolishness of fools is deceit.
Proverbs 14:8, NASB

These proverbs are making more sense to me recently. In large part, that’s because I’m seeing people live out the points that are made, for good and for bad.

‘Know Yourself’ is a simple and primary command found in ALL major religions,* which attests to its’ significance. 

Keep this in mind: ‘simple’ and ‘easy’ are NOT the same thing! I’m inclined to think that knowing myself has been the hardest task of my life. Simple? Yes. Easy? No.

Ignorance is defined as ‘lack of knowledge or information;’ it is our natural state. We start out not KNOWING the outcomes of our behavior. We might have an idea, based on received advice, or personal observation, but until we ACT, we don’t really KNOW the outcomes.

Wise people do know, and put their knowledge into action. A core bit of knowledge is:
If you keep on doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep on getting what you’re getting.

Like Wisdom, Foolishness is an acquired characteristic. If our behavior has unpleasant consequences, and we lie to ourselves about that, we make it impossible to learn and to change. We keep doing the same things, and expecting different outcomes.

First, we become fools. 
Second, we become ANGRY fools, blaming others for what we are really doing to ourselves. 

After that? It’s up to us! And that’s what this verse means to me. 

Peace be on your household.

*POSSIBLE exception: Shintoism; their core beliefs are called ‘affirmations’ and that MAY imply self-knowledge. Shinto scholars, feel free to comment.

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