I received the following email after announcing I was reducing Words for the Day down to just two entries per week. “I accept what you say, and at the same time, I don’t like it. There are probably many others like me who have, only in the last couple of years, started reading your daily words. This–because we only recently read your book and became aware of you. Your words to us are NOT stale and repeating, they are immensely helpful. so–do what you must , but we will miss your daily words”.
That is very nice of him to write this, but I know very few preachers that preach five days a week for twenty some odd years. But as for your comment we spent quite a sum of money capturing every WFTD written since June of 2000. We even added some that were written prior to automating, so this list covers 24 some odd years of them and if you are so inclined you can read until your eyes get tired. There is a search function built in the system whereby one can search by topic or simply go back in time and read those written way back in the beginning or whatever lies between. All one need do is go to this link, pick out your search choices press the button and start reading.
I have just completed building my new home and man o’ man am I glad that project is over. We just need to move in, which we are beginning today, and start living our normal lives again. It coincides with the whitetail rut and deer season, and I’ve already found the home base of two big bucks of which I am relentlessly pursuing. In February I’m going Marlin and sail fishing to Costa Rica for a month and then in April I’m fishing with a buddy in a Mahi tournament in the Florida Keys for a week or two. I intend to see my kids and grandkids as much as I can (and for which they have time), and then head down to Tallahassee for a week or two of turkey hunting when the season opens down there.
In the meantime, I am busy with trying to get our new ministry going and I am trying to finish writing another book about the Last Days. If I can figure out how to drive with my poor vision without crashing I am going to try a run at a Bible study at one of our local prisons. And of course, I need to get my crops in and do some work on my farm. I have also resumed doing my artwork and picked up my guitar and am playing again. Whew!
I have been reading about various politicians and so-called celebrities and would not trade what I have down here in Mississippi for all their fame and fortune. It reminds me of dead flies in a bottle of perfume as described in the Bible: by Solomon in Ecclesiastes – As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor. A wise person chooses the right road; a fool takes the wrong one. You can identify fools just by the way they walk down the street!.
They don’t seem to learn much from their lives, that even minor mistakes can have significant consequences and making the same ones over and again – well I suppose that makes them Lord of the flies. I’m sure this is precisely what the writer of Ecclesiastes had in mind when he wrote:
“As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor”.
A little study reveals it only takes one dead fly to ruin a bottle of perfume, just as it takes only a little foolishness to destroy your reputation.
King Solomon the wisest man the world has known according to biblical text wrote about foolishness as opposed to honor and wisdom. He spoke a great deal about our leadership throughout Ecclesiastes and Proverbs.
The foolish leader is often lazy.
“The fool folds his hands and ruins himself”.
The foolish leader likes to hear themselves talk.
“Words from a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips”.
The foolish leader is easily angered.
“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools”.
The foolish leader is arrogant.
“The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools”.
The foolish leader doesn’t keep their promises.
The foolish leader lacks awareness of their foolishness.
So, a foolish leader has a lot of dead flies in their life! They are lazy. They like to hear themselves talk, are easily angered, and arrogant. They don’t keep their promises, and worst of all, they aren’t even aware of their foolishness.
It’s no wonder Solomon said a foolish leader is the opposite of a wise leader.
My bet is you could easily expand on this list of traits of foolish leaders.
Now it’s time to have an honest look in the mirror. Remember, it only takes one dead fly to ruin perfume. Do you have any dead flies trapped in the perfume of your life that Jesus has given you? I suspect we all do. We need a pure life so keep a lid on the perfume and keep it pure.
Ecclesiastes 10:1
As dead flies bring a stench to the perfumer’s oil, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.