Fools for Christ
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9:24-25, ESV
When I was a kid April Fool’s was a big deal. Pulling practical jokes was right up there with wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day so that you don’t get pinched at school. And even though within the kids’ pantheon of holidays April Fool’s wasn’t even close to Christmas (presents!) or Halloween (candy!), it was still serious business. For one, it was a day when you got a hall pass for pulling pranks—Super Glue on the toilet seat or convincing your friends that your dad invented the Chia Pet.
When we get older we kind of grow out of April Fool’s pranks (well, some of us). And if we don’t, we tend to get more sophisticated in our approach, such as a cheap air horn strategically placed under the brake of the wife’s car (“I neither confirm nor deny attempting”).
In God’s kingdom there are two kinds of fools. One is the kind who falls for the tricks and scams of the devil and the flesh. On just a casual search of the Bible, I found about 100 verses that specially use the word “fool;” that doesn’t include verses that use variants such as unwise, ignorant, etc. We’ve all been there. That cool car we knew, deep down, was more about ego than gas efficiency (see my mid-80s Mercury Merkur Xr4Ti); the late-night temptation to scroll “that social media site” that doesn’t get flagged by your accountability software. Some of the proverbs about fools are pretty funny, such as:
Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. (25:24)
Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words. (23:9)
Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. (11:22)
But acting the fool is often not funny. We all know men who foolishly rush into the affair or the divorce, only to regret it deeply after the damage has been done.
But there’s an obverse to the fool’s coin, and Paul says it well: “We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!” (1 Corinthians 4:10). God’s man pushes forward against the evil and foolishness of this world and as a reward, is himself called a fool. What people don’t understand, they fear; and what they fear, they ridicule. That will be you, man of God. But when you are ridiculed for standing up for Jesus, the Holy Spirit uses what the world sees as foolishness to penetrate hard hearts. Ya, it’s not about you. So—and how shall I put this?—you need to suck it up. Take the heat. In it He works; through it He heals. In the midst of being a fool for Christ, inexplicable joy is found.
Father, make me a fool for Christ in all the right ways.