Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

There are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Dangerous Ease

Proverbs 1:32 – For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

 This verse describes a major deception of the naïve person. Many decide to live the life of ease which is characterized by complacency. Implied in this word is a sense of satisfaction for what has been accomplished. Contentment is a noble aim of life as Paul states in Philippians 4. But there is a subtle difference between contentment and complacency. Complacency does not acknowledge the potential dangers or insufficiencies of one’s achievements. The complacent person often sees their work as “good enough” For instance an accountant might be complacent about the work he has done, but this work contains a critical error that make a huge difference for the company. The CEO makes decisions based on the accountant’s work only to learn too late that he has $100,000 less in the bank than he thought he had. The accountant’s complacency led to a dangerous situation and set the company back. Ease can be dangerous. Look at our verse. Death and destruction come in the wake of waywardness and complacency.

The word “wayward” will be seen in other contexts of Proverbs. It is not a common word today, But I suggest that it needs to make a comeback. Parents should teach their children what it means to be wayward. To stray off the path is equivalent to apostacy or backsliding. Giving attention to keeping one’s car in the middle of the lane can save lives. My car has a feature that is somewhat annoying. If I veer onto the shoulder of the road, my tires shake, I assume, to wake me up. Parents would do well to install such a feature into their children. Children may need to be shaken from time to time to remind them to stay diligently in the middle of the road. Complacency and waywardness in driving can be fatal. When one becomes too comfortable within a situation there is a tendency to drift. The Hebrew writer wrote: “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1)

The antidote for dangerous ease is vigilance. Parents must train their children to understand the dangers of this world and how important it is to never let their guard down. There is also a danger in making our children hypervigilant, but this may happen naturally if they experience the consequences of danger. We don’t want our children to live fearful lives, but we do want them to live wise lives, and this requires avoiding waywardness and complacency. THERE ARE ENOUGH FOOLS IN THE WORLD.