Today is April Fool’s Day, a day to have fun and play practical jokes. I’ve carried out a few and been the recipient of even more … all in fun. But being a true fool is no laughing matter. Biblically, a fool is a man who fails to heed God’s warnings or refuses to live according to God’s wise principles.
Ironically, some who don’t know the Lord believe the opposite. They call us foolish for forgiving those who have hurt us, keeping God’s moral laws, and refusing to lie, cheat, or steal. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be called a fool for God than foolishly live in ways that will be displeasing to God and bring about His discipline.
God has always taken sin seriously, both in the Old Testament and the New. As God led Moses to begin the system of temple worship, two of Aaron’s sons attempted to carry out their new priestly duties with sinful, perhaps prideful, attitudes and were killed instantly. The text says they “offered profane fire before the Lord.”
In the book of Acts, Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter about their offering and dropped dead. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul said some believers had died prematurely because they failed to take seriously Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus Himself called us hypocrites when we fail to examine our own lives instead of pointing out the wrongs in everyone else’s.
These were intended to be strong warnings to the people of their day and ours. And speaking of warnings, Proverbs has plenty of them, too. Today’s reading exposes an invitation that is repeatedly sent out to us all. But it’s one to which only a fool RSVPs.
The Bible has a great deal to say about wisdom and its flip side, foolishness. In this series we’re looking at what it means to be wise and, by comparison, what it means to be foolish and how to recognize...
