Question 3
Listen to the talk that goes on in your home. How much of it is impatient and unkind? How often are words spoken out of selfishness and personal desire? How easily do outbursts of anger occur? How often do we bring up past wrongs? How do we fail to communicate hope? How do we fail to protect? How often do our words carry threats that we have “had it” and are about to quit? Stop and listen, and you will see how much we need to hold our talk to this standard of love, and how often the truth we profess to speak has been distorted by our sin.
– Paul David Tripp, War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2000), p. 229.
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There is yet another problem with the words of a fool: they are presumptuous. In other words, fools make arrogant and boastful claims about what they know and about what they will do, but they are unable to back up their words with knowledge or action. So the Preacher says,
“A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him?” (Ecclesiastes 10:14).
Fools are usually quite opinionated; they tend to be big talkers. For some reason, a fool is seldom content to keep his folly to himself but insists on sharing it with others. Words multiply. Fools go on and on, even when they do not know what they are talking about. Plato once said, “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” One of the many things that foolish people like to talk about is the future. No one knows what will happen in days to come, but for some reason this does not stop the fool from predicting the future. Some fools have fanciful theories about global disasters. Others have big plans for the future. To hear them talk about it, they are always one lucky break from striking it rich or landing their dream job. They boast about a “done deal” before the deal is actually done. This is all very foolish, because if there is one thing we can never presume, it is to know the future.
– Philip Graham Ryken, Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2010), 245–246.
Make your voice heard
One of the admonishments from this Sunday was to confront our leaders when they are foolish and urge them to follow God. How do you do that? One way, is to be aware of laws that are working their way through congress and contact our representatives and express our beliefs on the issue.
You can look up your representative and their contact information here.
Vote!
Another way to participate is ensure that you vote on your leaders. How can we complain about our leadership if we don’t participate in the voting system? You can get started by registering to vote.