April First is the day where people will play pranks and try to outwit each other with practical jokes. It is derived from various versions depending on what you know, study or believe. Some believe it came from Fifteen Eighty Two when France switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian and people of course didn’t have the internet back then, so they still celebrated the New Year in April, so they were referred to as April’s Fools. Some attribute it to festivals known as Hiaria, (Latin for Joyful) that they celebrated in Rome by followers of Cybele; or a cult in which they dressed up and mocked citizens. Others were supposedly inspired by Egyptian legends of Isis, Osiris and Seth. Wherever the day came from, I remember playing it as a kid with my friends, trying to get them before they got me.
Psalm Fourteen says,
“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (ESV)
Wait what? I hear people say all the time, “Well I’m a good person, I give to charities, I help the poor, I don’t lie, or steal, or murder, I’m not like them!” “I go to church every week, I tithe, I pray here and there, I don’t drink or smoke, or I am not one of those kinds of people!” The issue with all of these is that we compare ourselves to each other and think that because we are better than “Those” we are okay. There is also an “I” before all of the terms I wrote above, because we think it’s all about us. I hear people all the time say, “Living my best life”, but is that truly okay when we are in sin and rebellious? There is always an “I” in the middle of sin and of pride. Proverbs sixteen says,
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (ESV)
Paul writing about idolatry and warning the Corinthians about testing and being tempted says in First Corinthians ten,
“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (ESV)
The issue is we are fool’s compared to God; and to what He outlined in the Ten Commandments, or in just basic human nature. Paul reminds us that if we break one law, we break them all and I know I am guilty of at least breaking one a day! The jokes are cute and fun to play on friends and try to get a laugh, but salvation is not a laughing matter. Jesus came to die for us, who needed saving from ourselves, but rather than to accept Him as the Savior. We continually crucify Him over and over today in our hearts, and in our actions. The writer of Hebrews says in chapter six,
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt.” (ESV)
SO my question is, what are you being foolish with, thinking that you are invincible and better than “Them?” My prayer is that we all humble ourselves and understand that true peace and joy comes from Jesus and Him alone. When we take the “I” of self and give it to Christ, and make Him the center, it becomes what Paul says in Galatians two,
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.“ (ESV)
Paul also says in First Corinthians fifteen,
“I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.“ (ESV)
I love what Solomon says in Proverbs one,
““How long, O simple ones, will you LOVE BEING SIMPLE? How long will scoffers DELIGHT IN THEIR SCOFFING and FOOLS HATE KNOWLEDGE? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.” (ESV) (Emphasis added)
Don’t be fooled today or any other day, but submit to Christ.”
Jose Baraja
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