Title

Beware the Fool

Scripture
Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
(Proverbs 27:22)
Devotional
You can train a dog to do all kinds of tricks; you can dress it with the finest apparel; no matter what you do to it, it will remain a dog.
Likewise, foolishness makes the fool. You and I cannot change him once his foolishness has permeated his being. There is hope, however, for the foolish child. “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.”(1) Nevertheless, once that foolishness has gone unchecked, it becomes one with its possessor.
Do not think that you can change him. Do not hire him. Do not go into business with him. Do not date him and by all means, do not marry him. There is only one that can change the heart of a fool, Jesus Christ. Do not think that you can simply introduce him to Christ and he will be instantaneously changed. Maturity takes time, sometimes a lifetime.

(1) Proverbs 22:15
Text For The Day
Proverbs 27:22: Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
Thought For The Day
Here are a few lessons that humor columnist Dave Barry says it took him 50 years to learn. “1. Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. 2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’ 3. There is a very fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness.’ 4. Never lick a steak knife. 5. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.”
Questions To Ponder
Morning Study Guide
Defining:  “Mortar and pestle”: Metaphorically used for sharp discipline, thorough guidance and/or the chastisement of the Lord.
 
Referencing: “The foolish person will speak foolishness, and his heart will work iniquity,” Isaiah 32:6.
 
Applying: No matter how intelligent, educated, or elite, any person void of Christ is in a state of foolishness. Though you grind him with a mortar and pestle, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.