Proverbs 8:5. O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.
The word simple used here is sometimes translated as naïve. The simple ones are easily tricked or deceived. The simple far too easily follow those who are doing wrong without even realizing that now they are also doing wrong. A naïve person is too easily convinced of something. They are gullible. A naïve person hears lie and believes they are true.
Everyone is born simple. We are all born sinners and fools. Simple fools. Children are naïve and gullible aren’t they? They lack real life wisdom as well as the fear of the Lord. Left to their own devises, a child does not regulate themselves or practice self-control. As an adult, the simple fool never learned these things growing up. They never learned to be self-aware, much less aware of the world around them with all of its dangers and pitfalls.
Satan just loves naïve people. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he loves to place doubt in our hearts and then offer another way that is not God’s way. A way that looks and sounds like God but isn’t the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like religion, morality, knowledge, legalism, or spirituality. These all look and sound like God to the simple, but they are far from the good news.
It’s a well-known fact that when professionals need to learn how to spot a fake, like fake money or a fake piece of art, they don’t study or memorize the counterfeits. No, they study the real thing. Real money. Real art. They look at the real thing so much that anything else is easily spotted as a fake.
The same principle applies to the follower of Christ. If we would not be simple fools, then we must look carefully at Christ. We must study his life. Know his cross. Recognize his gospel. Here’s how Paul says it in Ephesians:
Ephesians 5:15-17. 15Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
The follower of Jesus must never remain foolish, or simple. We are called to grow up, to walk as the wise. We don’t make it through the evil days by understanding evil more and more. We make it through the evil days by understanding the will of the Lord more and more.
This means growing in our understanding of grace and salvation. We must look carefully at Jesus and his faithful life and his unfailing love on the cross. We must behold God’s grace in Christ until anything different is easily spotted. We must practice faith in Christ until any faith in ourselves stands out as a counterfeit way of life. We must become so full in the Spirit that to be full of anything else is clearly just another form of emptiness.
We must overcome our simplicity by simply trusting Jesus.
You: Are you simple? Naïve? Gullible? What about spiritually?
You in Christ: Can you tell when you are doing something from faith in your union with Christ versus doing it from your own power? Can you spot the “counterfeit” faith in your life?
Christ in you: What are you doing to memorize what God’s grace in Christ looks like?
Pray: Father, I want to walk as wise and not as a simple fool. Help me to keep my eyes on the Son until all the fakes are easily spotted and avoided. Amen.
To Live is Christ 