Don’t be a fool
Today is April 1st! In my younger days, this marked a day that pranks were pulled.
When my kids were younger, they were known to tell me my shoe was untied, but only to yell APRIL FOOLS! Years ago when I substitute taught, I remember two little girls in my class that tried to pull a prank on their substitute teacher. They had already spent the morning April fooling their fellow classmates, “Mrs. Adams wants you to go to the office. APRIL FOOLS!” “Ben said that he wants to meet you after school, I think he likes you…APRIL FOOLS!” All morning I had heard these girls pull their pranks, so when the two of them all of a sudden got ill, and started their (fake) coughing, I knew I was about to be pranked. But instead of exposing their prank, I went along with it.
I sent them down to the nurses office since they were “sick”. All the way down the hallway I heard girly giggles. After a few minutes of listening to their laughter, I joined them in the nurses office and explained to them that since it was such a pretty day, we were going to skip our reading assignment and go outside and play but since they were sick, we would have to stay in. The girls became very still and quiet and the walk down the hallway back to class was a very quiet one. I couldn’t let it go much longer before I explained to them that the “prankers” were just pranked…APRIL FOOLS!
Pulling pranks can generate a good laugh or two. But the Bible’s description of real fools is no laughing matter.
Psalm 53:1 says that the fool has said in his heart “There is no God.” In spite of all the miracles around us, in spite of God’s Word, and inspite of the resurrection of Jesus Christ …a fool just will not believe.
The book of Proverbs has much to say about the wise and the foolish. Chapter 12, verse 15, tells us that a fool is right in his own eyes. So often we play the fool when we aren’t open to anyone’s perspective but our own. We can be blind to our own sin and weaknesses. Only by humbling ourselves and asking the Lord to shine the light of His Spirit to reveal the truth about ourselves to us, can we receive the forgiveness and change that we need in our own hearts. Only then, we will not continue on being a fool.
Proverbs 18:2 tells us that a fool has no delight in understanding. He just wants to express what is in his own heart. This reveals that when we are so taken up in how we ourselves perceive things and are so eager to express our own opinion all the time, we are in danger of being a fool. It’s easy to become a “know-it-all,” even in areas of our faith and understanding of Scripture – to the point where we are not receptive to hearing or understanding what others have to teach us.
On this April Fools Day, let’s not be real fools. Instead of going along with foolish things, stay open to all that God wants to reveal to us about ourselves, about His Word, and about Himself.
Let’s be careful to not be fooled in this world.
Bless you dear.
So true, Laurie; we need to continually be open to His Word. I know for myself, I find new truth every time I read His Word. There is always something new He reveals through His Word.