Christian Living
Rants of foolishness in my hair salon
Here I am in a hair salon hoping to get my hair done as quickly as possible. From experience, I know that the possibility of getting out of here soon lies heavily on how much squabbles around me I am able to control. I am in for another round of unpleasant rants. Did I hear you say ‘change salons Grace’? Absolutely right! I’d done that only to end up with another crew, well milder kind actually .
As is becoming common practice in my city of residence, salon owners tend to have an attraction for employing young girls with very minimal training (of any kind), except ofcourse in their present trade- hair making. Which is fine, it’s a case of labor, service, wages and maybe self actualization. And they make beautiful hairs.
What I don’t get though, is how these girls take a liking to flippant use of words in their interactions with one another. ‘You are mad’, ‘you are crazy‘, ‘you’re foolish‘ and many other such phrases, that flow very freely from their lips. These are in my opinion, very inflammatory sayings capable of eliciting a fight or at least quarrels. And I tell you quarrels and squabbles are in frequent display here, except a customer consciously moderates the tone around her. These words and phrases are unpleasant and certainly do not align with Proverbs 16:24;
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”
Proverbs 16:24 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/pro.16.24.NKJV
I find that using curse words and phrases like the examples above, don’t come to me naturally. In fact, I am almost always shocked to hear people use curse words so carelessly. Even more shocking for me, is hearing them used in Christian circles. Should a Christian use curse words on another Christian? Can a Christian be a fool?
Who is a fool?
Dictionary definition of a fool is ” a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person”
And Psalms 14:1 and 53:1 helps us identify who a fool is…”The fool has said in his heart, “ There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.”
Psalms 14:1 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.14.1.NKJV
My definition of a fool will therefore be “anyone who has said in his heart ‘there is no God’ and operates as such” And we know that an unwise and imprudent person is not operating fully by the spirit of God.
Is a Christian a fool?
A Christian is expected to operate wisely and prudently having received the spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:12). Unfortunately, not every Christian is in this mode at all times. This is understandable when we remind ourselves that people operate at different levels of maturity and their expressions of it is varied.
Some Christians actually display foolishness in their decisions and choices. Many times, this happens following a failure to recognize and seek God’s face, His wisdom and counsel (as if to actually say ‘there is no God).
Paul yelled ‘O foolish Galatians’ in Galatians chapter 3, because the Galatians were drifting away from the initial truth they learnt about justification being by faith to wanting to gain justification through works. That was an aberration and a foolish way to behave. As we well know, wisdom for a Christian would mean operating by the truth which is the Word of God.
How do we help correct occasional display of foolishness by another Christian?
Personally, ‘fool‘ is not one of my choicest words to be used on a Christian as it negates the principle seen in Proverbs 16:24…
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”
Proverbs 16:24 NKJV
If we flip Proverbs 16:24, we find that unpleasant words can be harmful to the soul and bones
So I am more likely to say to someone who has behaved in a foolish way; ‘that was a foolish thing to do’ or …’you acted foolishly’. In addition, I will carefully point out where and how the person erred, then walk him through a more respectable Christian behavior. Whether they agree or disagree, my intention would be to heal and make better, never to wound or cause disease/distress/pain.
Interestingly, in Matthew 5, Jesus seems to also frown at ‘fool‘ being used on another brethren;
“But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice against him shall be guilty before the court; and whoever speaks [contemptuously and insultingly] to his brother, ‘Raca (You empty-headed idiot)!’ shall be guilty before the supreme court (Sanhedrin); and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the fiery hell.”
Matthew 5:22 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/mat.5.22.AMP
So you can probably understand my unease when Christians reference Proverbs 26: 4-5 in conflict resolutions between brethren. And I tend to be hearing it used more often.
“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.”
Proverbs 26:4-5 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/pro.26.4-5.NKJV
Proverbs 26: 4-5, is a beautiful portion of scripture in as much as it helps us operate as admonished in Ecclesiastes 3:7b; “A time to keep silence, And a time to speak”. Other than that it could very much sound inflammatory and do more harm than good.
Conclusion
Christians may occasionally behave foolishly, but they should not be described as fools.
I do not think that anybody bought with the precious blood of Jesus should be labelled a fool. God has called us more beautiful and inspiring names.
Therefore my response to being labelled as a fool directly or by implication will always be;….”I am not a fool. I am born of God, have the mind of Christ and my mind is continually being renewed by the Word of God”.
