Change

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

CHANGE

Prov 27:22

22 Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding him like grain with a pestle, you will not remove his folly from him.

NIV

Our historians tell us that in the history of making pure metals it was customary to grind in very large mortars the ore dug from the ground. By grinding the ore it would make separating the dros from the iron in the furnace. Grain was also taken to the mill, as it still is today, to be ground in the mill stone in order to be able to be turned into flour for baking. Before the mills of later years, hand grinding produced the same results. The picture is that both metal and grain were transformed by the mortar and pestle, but no matter how much instruction a fool is given, no such change will occur. Can we apply this to our lives? Certainly we would not consider ourselves a fool for we know the truth of the gospel and when we were first presented with it, we accepted the call of God to come unto him and he would give us rest. That is we could enter into his rest, we were saved. A true fool has refused to hear that call, or refuses to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. A fool might even think good works will get him to heaven, believing in God, but not willing to understand faith. But could we be a fool in some sense? If we are not willing to accept instruction, not willing to change, to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, maybe we could be a fool, maybe we do have some folly within us. What about the various beliefs within denominations and how each of us has chosen one to believe and never the twain shall meet. Do we refuse instruction that is contrary to what we now believe as the truth? Are we so entrenched in our way of thinking we will not consider the evidence presented regarding another way of seeing certain truths, or beliefs as to what the scripture says? It is true that we should not be blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine that comes blowing by. But to refuse honest discussion and studying the scriptures to evaluate the value of another view, we might be that fool who cannot be removed from his folly. Although it is true many have come and will continue to come who are false prophets with their twisted interpretations of the scripture and we are certainly not supposed to chase after them, constantly changing our thinking by each one that sounds better than the last. Yet, again to consider the thoughtful and studied minds of respectable men of God, is another story. We certainly use the commentaries of men from generations before us, to help give us insight into the scriptures. They all hail from different denominational views and still they are helpful in our research for the truth. So it might be with men of our generation who have spent their lives dedicated to the research for the truth. These men who have what might be considered having great minds or better yet, a great experience with the Spirit, still have varying views. But we should not reject views without our through examination of scriptures ourselves, to determine the validity of their views or interpretations of the scriptures. We should not allow our dogmatism to interfere with learning both from Godly men and the Spirit. That would be being a fool not being able to be separated from our folly. This should not be. Let us listen to the voice of the Spirit, and use his discernment to bring whatever change in our lives he needs to bring.