Moral thoughtfulness.
I. The state of spiritual folly is, I suppose, one of the most universal evils in the world. For the number of those who are naturally foolish is exceedingly great: of those, I mean, who understand no worldly thing well; of those who are careless about everything, carried about by every breath of opinion, without knowledge and without principle. But the term spiritual folly includes, unhappily, a great many more than these: it takes in not those only who are in the common sense of the term foolish, but a great many who are in the common sense of the term clever, and many even who are in the common sense of the term prudent, sensible, thoughtful and wise. It is but too evident that some of the ablest men who have ever lived on earth, have been in no less a degree spiritually fools. And thus it is not without truth that Christian writers have dwelt upon the insufficiency of worldly wisdom, and have warned their readers to beware, lest, while professing themselves to be wise, they should be accounted as fools in the sight of God.
II. Note the opposite to this notion, that those who are, as it were, fools in worldly matter, are wise before God. Although this is true in a certain sense, and under certain peculiar circumstances, yet taken generally, it is the very reverse of truth; and the careless and incautious language which has been used on this subject, has been often extremely mischievous. On the contrary, he who is foolish in worldly matters is likely also to be, and most commonly is, no less foolish in the things of God; and the opposite belief has arisen mainly from that strange confusion between innocence and ignorance with which many ignorant persons seem to solace themselves. He who is a fool as regards earthly things, is much more a fool with regard to heavenly things: he who cannot raise himself to the lower height, how is he to attain to the higher? he who is without reason and conscience, how shall he be endowed with the Spirit of God?
T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. iv., p. 23.
References: Colossians 1:9; Colossians 1:10. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxix., No. 174 2 Chronicles 1:10. Homiletic Magazine,vol. ix., p. 65; Church of England Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 6; J. Vaughan, Sermons,12th series, p. 93; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. v., p. 35.Colossians 1:11. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. v., pp. 31, 273.