Why I'm a Fool

I listened to a sermon by Andy Stanley today called "Musical Chairs". In it he talked about the three chairs as humans we have a tendency to sit in when we question Christianity or what the Bible says is right or wrong. These three chairs are the Naive, the Fools, and the Scoffers. When he spoke of the Naive he referred to teenagers and young adults who lack experience, talking about how they don't know what it feels like to be 30 and look back on all the moments they wish you could do differently. Then he talks about the Fools (which I'll dive into deeper in a bit) basically these people have an "I know whats right or wrong and I hear what you're saying, but i just don't care" attitude. Finally he talks about the Scoffers and how these people basically mock what the Bible says or the preacher says in the Sunday morning service. So there is the basic fundamentals of what he said, and naturally at the end he asks the people, "Now which chair are you sitting in at this moment in your life?" So i began to think, and think, and think....and like I felt like I knew but was like okay I wouldn't say that I'm a Scoffer in any regards, but I could see areas of my life when I am Naive, BUT by stands of the majority I am a Fool.

So many times in my life I am presented with decisions, just like everyone else, and I'm struck w/ the difficulty of "okay what should i choose? what is the right decision to make". Its tough without a doubt, but in this series Andy Stanly poses a question when we embark situations like this to ask ourselves, "What decision is best for me?" and i take that to mean he is saying what decision is best for me IN my life in Christ.

Okay so now that you have the overall posed question he presents to us, lets go back to me being a Fool(because I'm so excited for whoever reads this to know that I'm stupid lol). I can think of so many things that I have made decisions on in the past 2-3 months that i knew what was right and what was wrong, and i still chose the wrong. Why do I do that? Like where does the "you learn from past experiences" initiative come into play in my head during these moments? I can remember a particular instant when I literally picked up and set my phone down 15 times or more contemplating whether to respond to someone in a particular manner. And the whole time i KNEW the right decision, but i didn't go that way. No i chose the short lived satisfaction followed by extreme guilt, constant worrying, and just a spiral that led me into this mental breakdown where I began to hate me for that ONE decision. Something so easy, so simple that i could have just followed my better judgment and i didn't and now it has affected me and others around me. Andy Stanley says something else that just struck me so hardcore in his sermon. He said, "It is the companions of fools who suffer the most harm". I betrayed a friend, my best friend and now she wants nothing to do with me, and it is totally understandable from her standpoint. But she suffers from my decision...I had the opportunity to do what i knew was right but I chose not to follow that.

Andy Stanley also said "The only way for a Fool to change is to face the full consequences of their decisions." I just lost my best friend, that person that's been by my side for 6-7 years is gone, because of a decision i made. That is the consequence that I have to live with and if it will change me then I need to experience that, I want to experience that. Its going to be so hard because even now i just wanna pick up the phone and text her, tell her how sorry i am, ask her for forgiveness but i can't do that. I NEED to experience this hurt and this pain to gain the full understanding of my decision. So I praise God for the lesson I am about to learn.

But i think we should all ask ourselves from time to time, "What chair am I in at this moment?" And take that opportunity take that time to think about the bigger picture, remind ourselves that the ultimate lover, Jesus Christ is the man we should model our lives after, his ways should become our ways, i mean i hate to be cliche and a little corny here, but maybe we should resort back to the 90's when we were all running around w/ those wonderful multi-colored bracelets on our wrists and asks ourselves in every situation, "What Would Jesus Do?"