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Some people are foolish
all the year round! Who wants to fall prey to an April
Fool’s joker? Sometimes the BBC do an April Fool article on its news
programmes and we are left wondering which of all the daft things reported it
is! One newspaper printed a picture of a
barber trimming the bearskin helmets of soldiers. We were assured that the
hairs continued to grow long after the helmets were made. Apart from silliness, there are things
done which are painful and hurtful. Property is damaged and people hurt all
in the name of a “joke.” But there is a more serious side to
this. Jokes and fun can be very healthy expressions of happiness and can help
us through some otherwise difficult times. But the biggest fools in the world
are not those who play practical jokes, and tell funny stories. If you have a copy of the Bible in your
home you can find what it says about them. It doesn’t joke or make us laugh
about real foolishness. It makes us think: perhaps making us
realise that more of us are more foolish than we may have thought. |
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So what does it say? Psalm 14 verse 1
says, The
fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Think about it! This is
saying that: 1. A fool has eyes, but does
not see. If I taught that a
camera had been found in a glass, metal and plastics factory in which there
had been a massive explosion... That it had been blown together in an
amazing, but undesigned way to form a machine... That it worked perfectly to
focus on an object and place an image
of the light onto light sensitive film... you would call me a
fool! I might even get locked up if I believed it sincerely.
But the fool says that
the eye came about by chance. It just happened. And those who say that
God is the Creator are looked at as if they have a head problem. But that verse also
teaches: 2. A fool has ears, but
will not hear. How many times have we
heard the phrase, “You’re not listening to me”? The Bible teaches that fools
despise instruction. The problem is not the
ears. They are working just fine. It is what is between them. The reason people do
not listen is that they don’t want to hear. It may be simple disinterest, or
it may be dislike, but the outcome is the same - they will not listen. Imagine the person
playing bingo who misses that last vital number, and, as they scrabble to
recover, someone else shouts! Or the many lost millions of the Lottery
because people weren’t attentive! Our problem is that God
has spoken to tell us about Himself and how we may come to know His
forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ - but there we are... That is the
big turn-off isn’t it?
If Christians acted the
fool they might get a crowd, and a casual hearing. But perhaps people keep
clear of the serious Christianity because G K Chesterton was right, “The
human mind cannot take too much reality.” So the last point I
want to make is this: 3. A fool has a mouth
but will not admit the truth. When he says, “There is
no God”, he denies what his whole being acknowledges. | |
