Fools find no pleasure in understanding
Proverbs 18:2 NIV
but delight in airing their own opinions.
I’m sure you have met this person. The one who has an opinion about nearly everything. And who freely and boldly shares those opinions as if they were facts. They share, not to promote understanding, either for themselves or others. But simply because they want everyone to know what they believe to be true. They delight in airing their own opinions.
Is it wrong to have opinions? Certainly not; we all have them. We have opinions about nearly everything we encounter. And sharing those opinions, if done correctly, is not wrong either. So long as we recognize that it is my opinion and not fact. And that others may have equally valid, although quite different, opinions on the same topic.
Solomon calls the person who delights in sharing their opinions a fool. Not because they are mentally deficient. On the contrary, they could be brilliant. In Proverbs, a fool is someone who acts or speaks in ways that harm or discredit themselves and others.
Don’t be a fool who delights in sharing their opinion as if it were an established fact. Seek to gain understanding and wisdom by listening to and learning from others. You do not necessarily need to agree with them. But listen and try to understand. It is just possible they might have something valuable to say. Something you might learn from.
