“Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.” (Prov. 14:7)
How many of these people do you know, how many of them do you keep a close association with? A fool in the Scriptures is one who denies the authority of the Lord God over their lives, who lives as if they are the master of their soul, who lives as if there is no God.
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Eze. 18:4)
I am not speaking of your relationship to those who openly mock you, who deride you for your faith in Jesus Christ, they are most likely not individuals you willingly spend much of your time around, but of those instead whom you call friends, those who you hold an affinity for, even those you may love. If they are not born-again, and you have the choice of your relationship towards them, then why do you remain in their presence?
“For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (Matt. 10:35)
Not just those you call friends the Lord said, but those in your immediate family.
I liken the opening verse of this short letter to Matthew 7:6, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Obviously, the fools and the swine are the same people, those who have a reverence for Him who all, in one way or another, will serve, they live their lives as if they do not need the Almighty, and many of these believe that, if indeed there is a God in heaven, their works will allow them entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
We want those we love to be saved, we want them to come to the realization of the truths of the Scriptures, that unless they repent and call upon the name of the Lord they will die in their sins, and it is a horrific thought to us if they do not, but the question is this, for how long do you continue in their presence? You may be considering 1 Corinthians 7:16 here, “For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” But that verse speaks of the married, believing spouse, not the sister or father of one in a family, and definitely not of friends and acquaintances.
“And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,” (Mark 10:29)
A decision must be made, who is more important to you, Jesus Christ or that fool, who do you love more, the Lord of glory or the swine? Tough words, difficult decision, but nevertheless truth.
They are not on the path to the Celestial Kingdom, but in a sense, they stand in the way of your forward movement on your path to home. There is a reason why the windshield of a vehicle is much larger than the rear-view mirrors, we need to see clearly where we are heading, and those things behind us are of little value to us. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” (Phil. 3:13)
Why would you desire to have anything in your life that is not profitable to the glory of God? Why would you keep people in your life that have no fear of God, who desire only to live their lives as they please, who do not reverence the Almighty as Sovereign, who count the shed blood of the Savior as a lite, inconsequential matter?
Love of those who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ is perhaps one of the most difficult matters to discuss, it is deeply personal, and you know that if they do not repent, they will spend eternity in damnation forever. We want to have hope for them. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8)
Walking humbly with the Lord our God is not possible if you spend your life in the presence of fools. Following Jesus Christ requires some very difficult decisions, it always has.
