A meditation by Victor

Proverb 26:4-5

Answer not a fool according to his folly,
  lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
  lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Today, verses 4 and 5 stuck out to me. If anyone has insight into these verses, please share! I understood them to mean that fools are impossible to deal with: when you try, they either bring you down to their level, or are reinforced in their own foolishness.  I think we can all look back on situations or people that exemplify this exasperating trait.  Then again, I also think we can see such foolishness in our own hearts.

To not be a fool, to be wise, seems to relate with being receptive to wisdom—with accepting and even loving correction. There are attitudes I have and ways I behave that, without change, would essentially make me no different from the fools, sluggards, and deceitful ones described here.  I believe all my sins and failures are covered over by the blood of Jesus, and I have new life in Him. But unless, in light of what Christ has done, I share, and acknowledge my blind spots, how do I change, and grow in the truth? 

The challenge for me through this chapter is to remember this: I’m not a big deal. I should change, and my Christian family can tell me how. Praise God that we are justified in Christ and don’t need to justify ourselves.