We are fools for
the sake of Christ
1 Corinthians 4:10
Happy April Fool’s Day. I hope you’ve taken time to laugh with friends or family today. My boys favorite trick was always to tape the trigger of the sprayer of the sink down. Turn on the water and … SPLAASSHHH!
As you would probably guess, fools and foolishness are not new to our generation! Various versions of the word “fool” occur score (if not hundreds) of times in the Scripture. They occur mostly in the wisdom literature. For example, the Proverbs continually advise us on how to be wise rather than foolish.
In our verse for today, Paul uses “fool” in a different way.
Fool is obviously a derogative term in his generation; nevertheless, this disciple boldly claims the title!
Why? Because our world – with all its big words and high-falutin’ reason – “d[oes] not see fit to acknowledge God” (Rom 1:28) Paul would rather be a faithful fool than a foolish “debater of this age” (1 Cor 1:20). “God [has] made foolish the wisdom of the world,” declares Paul (1 Cor 1:20); therefore, Paul is content, simply, “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and … shar[e in] his sufferings by becoming like him in his death” (Phil 3:20).
“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved,” says Paul, “it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who’s glad to be a fool
(on April 1 … or any
other time for Christ)
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