I call you friend not because we agree on everything but because of what I hope will someday be. Essentially, I am speaking to you in the present with a mindset geared towards the future. A mother whose family lives in poverty speaks to her only son and says "You will be a great doctor someday and you will save many lives."
Her context is a land devoid of clean water and the landscape of many sick children who don't live to be ten years old. She is surrounded by sickness, disease, and death. But still she hopes and most importantly, she speaks.
Those of us who have lived comparatively better lives may not understand and perhaps, you don't even care about these "third world issues". These things happen in the "first worlds" too such as the United States of America. I'm all too happy to bust that particular bubble.
I know without a doubt that we, generally speaking, are more concerned with the present circumstances and don't consider the future consequence. It is indelibly a part of the human condition.
We don't seek wisdom unless it is accessible and causes us no discomfort to locate it. We are more than happy to "figure things out" ourselves and not seek aid from a more reputable and reliable source. The wise man's wisdom is evident in that he looks ahead and plans and recognizes that the future must be addressed. The fool leaves their own impression by being content with the immediate present and what's going on right then. No one wants to be the fool and everyone wants to be considered wise but inevitably someone will take the roles of each. Which one are you?
Proverbs 19:20-21 says "Hear counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in the latter end. There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand."
There is even a reminder in Jeremiah 17:9 that says "The heart is deceitful wicked above all things, and desperately wicked." So do you really think you understand it enough to trust it.
I snicker when someone says "What the heart wants, the heart wants." Hilarious! Translation: I'm going to do what I want. Take whomever's husband I want. Take whomever's girlfriend I want. Come to work whenever I feel like. Change my mind after I promised someone I would be there. Or whatever I feel like based on the given day. We are surrounded by people like this but we rarely, I ever, think about the consequences.
Are we living daily wisely or as fools? Are we living in such a way that ensures we are ready of the "end" when it comes? I used to teach this for years and the reaction was almost always the same. Complete and total silence. I would share with the class or the congregation that once we expire and all our work ceases and we are physically no more, our earthly account, so to speak, is closed. We cannot add or remove any more funds. Every check is checked and every balance is balanced. There is now only reconciliation and a tabulation of works and deeds. All that we have accomplished good and bad is now in the hands of the "accountant". We can't add additional information or offer any more insights. Whatever works have been exercised with cruelty, gratitude, malice, joy, hatred, or kind-heartedness is open for judgment and will be rewarded accordingly.
So are we living with the end in mind or do we only care about the present and hope that in our latter moments, we can get some kind of reprieve or an opt out of any penalty for the horrible stuff we may have put our hands to do against others? I didn't make that up. People actually think like that. I've met them personally. I know some of them very intimately. The wise man lives with the future in mind and thinks generationally as in, what will happen to my family as a result of this decision I'm considering. The fool says YOLO. I'm not worried about the future because I may not even be here, taking no consideration for the ramifications or the effect of those they love that are left behind in the event of their passing.
This is a very deep topic that I want to revisit in future blog posts but let me leave you with this thought from Matthew 25:1-13:
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
I don't expect anyone to say "Amen".
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