Wednesday, April 18, 2018

ARE YOU AN APRIL FOOL?

Many Christians were probably chided this past Easter because  Easter Sunday fell on April Fools Day. Some unbelievers found it amusing, and maybe appropriate, that we who believe in the foolishness of Christianity were celebrating our Savior Jesus Christ on a day that is set aside to trick, deceive, and make a fool of others. 

Like a cat, I have an enormous curiosity. Where in the world did the holiday of April Fools Day come from? How long has it be around? Are there other countries that celebrate this too? Thanks to the internet, I quickly found some answers.

We can trace April Fools Day all the way back to France in 1582. This was the year that France changed from the Gregorian calendar to the Julian calendar and the first day of the year became January lst rather than April 1st. They didn't have good means of communication in those days. . .no phones, internet, FaceBook, etc. so some people didn't get word of this change and continued to celebrate the first day of the year in April, thus they were called 'April Fools'. 

It wasn't until 1752 that England accepted the same calendar change as France and some people continued to celebrate the first day of the year on April 1st rather than on January 1st. Eventually most of Europe was caught up in the fun of playing tricks and making fools of each other on April 1st. 

I'm not sure I believe this, but I heard that the Pope cancelled April Fool's Day this year in honor of Easter and there will be two days of celebration in 2019. Really?

My mind immediately went to I Corinthians when I became aware of the jokes about fools and Easter.

"For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

          "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, 
            And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside."

Where is the wise man? Where is the scrib? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"
I Corinthians 1:18 - 20  See also Isaiah 62:2  

In I Corinthians 1, we read that God was well pleased with the "foolishness" of the message preached to "save" those who believe. Apparently the Lord knew the message - Jesus died on a cross to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe and they would now have eternal life - would appear foolish to those He had not given the gift of faith. When we understand that faith is a gift, we can come to terms with the fact that others don't believe because they haven't received the gift, see Ephesians 2:8-9. We don't need to judge these people, just love them. 

Never fear - the God who created the universe has always had a plan and no one will disrupt it.

Daniel 4:35 ..."He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: What have you done?" Vs 37..."everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble." 


I think these were the verses that finally opened my eyes to the sovereignty of God.  There may be many who try and convince you they have a free will; Scripture says just the opposite. But, it's easy to confuse the exhortations sprinkled through the Bible as being a choice to be 'good' or 'bad'. We humans are a proud lot, always want to be in charge! Those who say they have a free will are saying in effect that they are free to do what they want and God is not sovereign over their lives. Not true!

I Corinthians 2:14 tells us that, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

I can remember in my early days when people called me foolish for believing the Bible and respecting it as God's Word, I'd say, "Yup, I'm a fool for Jesus!" Never fear, there will come a day, when...

"...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (hell) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Thank you Lord for the gift of faith. Help us to walk in your light and never become self-righteous because we are who we are because of your grace, love and power.