"Fools' Hill" -- Tim Phillips
April 1 has now come and gone. Did you happen to fall for any good April Fools’ Day pranks? It seems like a peculiar day to celebrate, certainly, but it has apparently been around for a long, long time (centuries!). It’s even celebrated as a public holiday in the city of Odessa in the Ukraine. And that’s no joke.
What does it mean to be foolish? My mom is fond of a saying: “Everyone has to get over Fools' Hill.” Some of us did a lot of things when we were younger (and perhaps still do!) that could be characterized as “foolish.” But most of that kind of foolishness gradually disappears through experience as we get older and wiser. Most of us probably, at one time, thought our parents were foolish for the things they warned us about. Now we see that we were really the foolish ones.
One of the ways we can think of foolishness is as the opposite of wisdom. But what is wisdom? One helpful way of looking at wisdom is in seeing the difference between wisdom and intelligence. When I was a teenager, I played a good bit of the game Dungeons & Dragons. Characters in the game would have different attributes: strength, intelligence, wisdom, constitution, dexterity, and charisma. But two of those (intelligence and wisdom) look remarkably similar. I remember the example the designer of the game explained the difference. He was a smoker, and he quipped that he had the intelligence to know that he shouldn’t smoke, but he didn’t have the wisdom to stop. So, wisdom may be thought of as applied intelligence. It’s one thing to know something; it’s another to put that knowledge to use.
The Bible has a lot to say about fools. The book of Proverbs warns about the difference between wisdom and foolishness. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Foolishness is often connected with sin and unbelief. “Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool” (Proverbs 10:23). “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”” (Psalm 14:1). And Jesus warns against calling fellow believers “fools” (Matthew 5:22). But at the same time (and even in the same general context), Jesus refers to those who do not follow His words as “foolish” (Matthew 7:26). Paul calls the Galatians “foolish” because they were in danger of abandoning the gospel for a form of works-righteousness (Galatians 3:1-3). Jesus also tells a parable about a rich man whom God declares to be a fool (Luke 12:16-21). Jesus calls the Pharisees “fools” (Matthew 23:17). He even chastises His followers, who were slow to believe the promises of the Old Testament, calling them “fools” (Luke 24:25).
In truth, no one really wants to be called a fool. While April Fools’ Day is largely a matter of innocent and good-natured fun, intentionally calling someone a fool (at least in the biblical sense) is a rather serious matter. A fool is someone who does not have any use for the word of God. A fool despises the gospel. A fool is someone who loves to sin. A fool is someone who may claim to know God, but lives in way that indicates he really does not believe in God. The fool may even reject God in favor of idolatry (Romans 1:21-23). Unless he turns from his foolishness, the end of the fool will be ruin.
It is folly not to follow the word of God. It is folly to worship something (anything!) other than the true and living God. It is folly not to put our trust in the promised Savior, Jesus Christ. The truth is that a great many people, even those who would claim to be Christian, have fallen in love with this world (its riches, its pleasures, its wisdom) and have no time for the things of God. And that is foolishness.
But there is a different way to be foolish – a good way to be foolish. If we wish to live our lives in devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, the world will call that foolishness. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25:
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The world may ridicule Christians. It may mock you and call you foolish if you say you are a believer in Jesus Christ. Why should that bother you? Is not the Lord Jesus Christ more precious than all the riches of this world? In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). Don’t be ashamed to be called a fool, as long as it is the right kind of fool. Instead, let us be fools for Christ (1 Corinthians 4:10).