April Fool’s Day // 1 Corinthians 3:18-21

Happy April Fool’s Day! This is one of those days where I have to be careful due to my tendency toward gullibility. There are conflicting reports to the day’s origins, but historians generally point to France in the late 1580s and the conversion to our modern-day Gregorian calendar. As the story goes, New Year’s Day was moved from what we now know as April 1 to January 1, leading to all kinds of confusion until everyone adapted.

Although we are well set with our calendar, these rapidly changing times can leave us blindsided and confused. Words all of a sudden get new definitions. Things we once held foundational take on new meaning. Before we knew it, forces in the world totally confused people on the things once held as basic, mocking those who hold onto previous ideas. Consider these words from Isaiah 5:20, “How terrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute what is bitter for what is sweet and what is sweet for what is bitter!” (ISV)

I think many of us feel this foolish inversion occurring in the world. So what are we to do? The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:18-20, “Don’t fool yourself. If some of you think they are worldly-wise, then they should become foolish so that they can become wise. As it’s written, ‘He catches the wise in their cleverness.’ And also, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are silly’” (CEB). The essence here is how the world can try and convince people of what is right and wrong based on the agenda the world tries to push that day. May we never forget, though, that the way of wisdom — God’s way — is constant. It might seem foolish to the shifting perspectives of the world, but that is the pathway to wisdom. It comes down to unlearning what what has been learned in order to embrace God’s truth.

I hope you have a nice April Fool’s Day. Don’t let the craziness of our sick culture cause you to think all is lost. If anything, we have the opportunity to take what some think is foolishness and point people to the eternal goodness of God.