Call upon Jesus

 I don't know about you, but I have carried around resentment in my life at times that just ate away at me until I finally released that load to God. It was only then that I realized the significant weight I had put on myself and just how awful that stuff was to carry. Proverbs 27:3 reminds us, "A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier." Our words and actions can turn from wise and kind toward bitter and foolish in just a matter of minutes. Our plan to be wise and act the 'right' way can be waylaid by some emotional 'mood' that hits us 'just right' at just the 'wrong moment' and there we are embracing foolish actions and a seed of bitterness.

Our mind might be telling us to do one thing, but our emotions can carry us in a different direction when they are allowed to overrule our mind. Truth be told, the other person was kind of foolish in their behavior and it ticked us off just a bit more than normal. Their actions left us with a load of emotions, all jumbled together, and those emotions begin to 'birth' new ones, until we find ourselves carrying a huge load of 'ugly' all because of 'that fool' who acted 'that way'. We might not realize how much the foolish actions or words of another have created a load of bitterness and resentment within us, but if we stop to look at the issue closely, we might just see how much we allowed our emotions to respond to their foolish actions.

We need to become very cautious about our reactions, learning rather to 'respond' and not always to 'react'. There will always be foolish people in our lives, and their actions will most certainly make us want to react with our own foolish actions, but Christ will enable us to respond in a manner that doesn't escalate the situation or create a well-spring of guilt and angst. The worst thing we can do is respond without thought - that is reacting. The load of resentment that comes from dealing with a fool by trying to talk them out of their foolishness or change their minds about something is way more than we will want to bear.

We don't 'talk a fool out of his foolishness' because the fool is bend on doing or saying what he will. We respond with wisdom when we call upon the name of Jesus at that moment when 'reaction' wants to override 'response' within us. When we call upon his name, we are actually leaning into God's wisdom and strength rather than 'giving into' our desire to 'help' or 'show' the fool their actions are not right. You cannot reason with the fool for their is no changing their mind. Walk away, get with God, let him guide you. You are not a 'fool-guide'! Just sayin!