Poison

Trusting a fool to convey a messageis like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison!

Proverbs 26:6

So, moms, let’s apply this to the messages—foolish and dangerous messages—that are broadcast to our children. Our proverb says that trusting a fool to convey a message is foolish. It is like drinking poison. We know we can’t control everything our children see and hear, but we can control what they see and hear when they’re with us. When you are watching a TV show and the people on the screen are making wrong choices regarding morality or integrity or the way they dress, the way they talk, or what they talk about, that is a message. If it is wrong and we leave it on and are entertained by it, we are endorsing it. Let me say that again. It’s an endorsement from us. Those foolish people are delivering a message to those you love by saying, “All that wrong behavior is not only okay, but it’s even glamorous and appealing.” That’s a wrong message.

Also, we as parents need to be involved and aware of the things taught at school. When my daughter was in junior high, I asked to see some of the things that were to be taught in the sex education curriculum. It was appalling and undermined all that we taught at home. I chose to take her out of class for those lessons so that a foolish, immoral curriculum did not deliver a foolish, immoral lesson. That would have been like letting my daughter drink poison.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Let’s now apply this proverb to ourselves. There is a strong possibility that you have or are relying on foolish sources of information to form your concept of who you are. Do you feel your life doesn’t matter? Do you look at others and think God loves them more than you? If you’ve made bad lifestyle choices in the past, do you think you will always be a second-class Christian? These are lies. They are poison. Will you let God himself have the last word? He says, “I have loved you . . . with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (Jeremiah 31:3).

One Year Bible Reading

Jeremiah 44:24–47:7; 2 Timothy 2:22–3:17; Psalm 94:1-23; Proverbs 26:6-8