Ecclesiastes 10:1. “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.” A LITTLE FOLLY. Life goes by, times change, so shall I changeless be? How about those things that one time bothered me? Will I forget the value of each day Lived for God, in His true and changeless way?
How about the fact that other men Seem able to get by and nothing bothers them? Why should it make me so upset; If I can’t do or get what others get?
It really is only one act so small, That no one else will notice, not at all. It won’t affect some other person’s mind, Especially if the fly they never find.
I know the fly is dead, so what’s the case? It’s not going to take its smell some other place. A fly or two is no big deal. After all, I didn’t really steal.
I just neglected to write down, Some cash I made when I was in the town. So no one else will ever be the wiser. A few extra dollars doesn’t make a man a miser.
The pictures printed in the book, Or the computer scenes on which I look; Are there for everyone to see; So why are people picking now on me?
Dead flies are really not so big. The problem is the pile from where they dig Their dirt and disease are so easily spread, Makes perfume to smell like it is something dead.
The maggots in the ointment they can breed; Last longer than the eggs the fly once laid. And nothing really looks quite so bad, As maggots, flies and such when they are dead.
Reputation and honor ultimately come to those; After many years of living above reproach. They both can be quickly lost from me; When I didn’t even know folks were there to see.
For me to live for God and His name bear, Can be lost in a moment if I don’t take care; Of how I live and talk and work, until then, My reputation and honor have both been lost to sin.
“O Father God: please keep me with a sensitive spirit to the little things that can come in and make a mess of my life and testimony. I fear lest all that has been done for a lifetime will be lost over some foolish dead flies. I remember Grandpa Scott prayed, ‘Keep me from dying a wicked old man,’ and I pray that too, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”