epdf.pub_blessed-to-be-a-blessing

22 The Fool’s Dozen
themselves in a losing situation.
2. A fool is right in his own eyes (Proverbs 12:15).
You can avoid this kind of foolishness by constantly comparing
your opinion to the Word of God. When they differ,
always go with what the Word says—no matter how right
your own opinion may seem to be at the time. If you do that,
it will be impossible for the devil to deceive you for long in
any area of your life.
3. A fool makes a mockery of sin (Proverbs 14:9).
Here the Lord is referring to the kind of person who thinks,
for instance, that it won’t hurt him to watch R-rated movies.
“That stuff doesn’t really bother me all that much,” he says.
Another example is the believer who drinks “just a little.”
“God won’t do anything to me for having a few beers,” he says.
God doesn’t have to! The human liver wasn’t made to process
alcohol and you can’t put any through it without ruining it. The
person who thinks he can is a fool by God’s standards.
Sin in any measure will eventually bring ruin. As Galatians
6:7 says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If you sow sin, you
will reap destruction. There’s just no way around that. “The
wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23). Not “sometimes is”—
“always is!”
4. A fool hides hatred with lying and utters slander
(Proverbs 10:18).
Don’t go around bad-mouthing everybody from the pastor
to the president. That’s the mark of a fool. One cannot harbor a
critical spirit and prosper in God.