fool

What Kind of Fool Are You?, by Randall D. Kittle

The month of April starts off with April Fool’s Day — a day of merriment or mischief making. Which one of these it is for you depends on which side of the “tricks” you’re on. It is a day that pranksters and practical jokers enjoy, and the rest of us tolerate and try to survive. On April Fool’s Day there are really two kinds of fools: those fools who play their jokes (funny or not) upon others, and those poor victims who are fooled by them.

The Bible also makes it clear that there are two kinds of fools in this world — those who are fools in the eyes of God, and those who are fools in the eyes of the world. Who are those that God calls fools? “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). Those who deny the existence of God — either by word or by deed — are those who are fools in the eyes of the Lord. It is not just the atheist or the follower of false religions whom God calls foolish. When we trust in ourselves or our riches instead of placing our trust in God, we are denying God in our hearts. Proverbs 28:25–26 tells us that “… he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” When we trust in ourselves, we are building our hopes on shaky ground. In our country, so many have heard the things of the Kingdom of God, yet continue to build their lives upon other American ideals they have hidden in their hearts. Jesus said they were fools and the outcome would be disastrous, “But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will fall with a mighty crash” (Matthew 7:26–27). Yes, we are surrounded by those who because of trust of self or trust in wealth have become fools in the eyes of God.

Yet the Bible also says there’s a different kind of fool; those who are fools in the eyes of the world. The glorious message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not difficult to understand (for even a preschooler can comprehend it), but it is utter foolishness to the logic and wisdom of fallen mankind. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). The pathway of salvation is one not of increasing levels of enlightenment finding “hidden knowledge,” but one of humility — accepting the finished work of Christ and trusting in what it has done. “For God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). If we are truly representing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this dying world, they will either receive it and be saved, or scoff at our “foolish” beliefs.

This world will not be won by superior intellect nor fine sounding arguments, but by fools for Christ who declare the unchanging message of God’s love displayed upon the Cross for all mankind. Listen to this invitation found in 1 Corinthians 3:18, “No one should fool himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise by this world’s standards, he should become a fool, in order to be really wise.” Michael Card wrote of this invitation to be fool’s for the sake of God in his song, “God’s Own Fool”:

Seems I’ve imagined Him all of my life,
As the wisest of all of mankind;
But if God’s only wisdom is foolish to man,
He must of seemed out of His mind.
Even His family said He was mad,
And the priest said a demon’s to blame;
But God in the form of this angry young man,
Could not have seemed perfectly sane. …
So we follow God’s own fool,
For only the foolish can tell;
Believe the un-believable,
Come, be a fool as well!