This past Tuesday, our nation (and much of Western culture) celebrated April Fools’ Day, a day where many of us spend half our time wondering whether what we’re reading online is accurate, or if it is just a clever joke meant to make us look twice and maybe feel a little foolish afterward. “Did Aaron Rodgers really sign with the Bears?” (He did not, dear reader.) “Did those formerly stuck NASA astronauts really say they’d fly on another Boeing spacecraft if given the chance?” (They actually did.)
Truth be told, April Fools’ Day is the one day where we actually exercise as much skepticism about the things we read on the internet as we probably should the rest of the year. But this got me to thinking: When it comes to the things that we trust in life, we’re all too ready to act in a foolish manner, trusting the things that don’t give us life and mistrusting the one thing that truly does offer life.
1 Corinthians 3:19 states, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” The apostle Paul continues in the following verses, “(God) catches the wise in their craftiness … the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” All too often in this world, we think we know better the things that give us life. We think we know better than God. If we find the right levers in this world, we think we can find real, abundant life. But all too often, the things we think give us life only fill us temporarily, and then we’re on to the next big thing to fill us – the next promotion, the next new gadget, a “better” house or car, or maybe victory in the next competition of life, be it sports, politics, or something else. While it’s good and right to enjoy these things for their season (depending on your sports loyalties, those seasons might be especially rare), I think we all take some of them as much more life-and-death than they actually are, and our priorities and loyalties often reveal that to be the case.
Despite these human things, Paul reminds us later on in Chapter 3 that our salvation comes from belonging to Christ, who belongs to God. And when we spend so much time focusing on the worldly things that we seek out to give us life, we forget this fact. We forget that it is the foolishness of the cross that brings us to new life in Christ Jesus – not our own human wisdom. We can’t will our way into the promise. Instead, in what seems foolish to our world, we are called to simply trust in God in all things, and in so doing, give up our own self-determination in following God’s will for our lives. Because this de-emphasizes our human need to get ahead, it seems foolish to the world. But to God it is the way of eternal life that gives life not just to us, but to all who receive the outflow of sacrificial love that Christ modeled for us. For when we set aside the need to get ahead, we also make room in our hearts and our lives for others who would otherwise be cast aside. It may not help us get ahead of others, but it may help all of us move forward together.
So today I invite you all to act foolish in the ways of this world. Trust that the wisdom of God’s self-sacrificing love found in Christ is indeed true wisdom for all who seek God’s presence in their lives. And in so doing, we find real life through the one who never fails us – God, our creator, and Christ, our savior, through the gift of the Spirit’s guidance for the sake of the whole people of God.
Pastor Chris