It is a wise quip, albeit one built on an urban legend, that April Fool’s Day is the national holiday for atheists. The Bible tells us that the fool says in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). The Bible is quite right, and we would do well to heed its wisdom. Too often we act as though these emperors of their own faux kingdoms actually have clothes, that their academic gowns cover their nakedness. Nope. They’re just fools and we have no reason to fear their academic prowess. Having a battle of wits with an atheist is fighting against a half-armed man.
That said, the Bible also describes another group of fools. These fools are theists, not atheists. In fact, they are not just theists, believers in the existence of a god, but Christians, professors of the one true God. Paul tells us in his first letter to the church at Corinth,
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence (I Cor. 1:26-29).
We are called here to own what should be obvious to everyone, that we too are fools. We were not brought into the kingdom because of our wisdom, our strength, our nobility. We were brought into the kingdom because of our folly, our weakness and our ignobility. We don’t smart our way into the kingdom, nor strive our way into the kingdom, nor inherit our way into the kingdom. We are brought in in all our inglorious bastardy, by His grace, by His power, and for His glory.
The fool in us, however, is not easy to shake. We drag it along behind us. We’re fools enough to forget that we are fools. We’re fools enough to pridefully look down our noses at other fools. We’re fools enough to think we were chosen because of our virtues, rather than because of our utter lack of virtue, that our being chosen glorifies us, rather than Him.
When, however, our folly leads us to forget our folly, Wisdom calls us to repentance. Wisdom reminds us that we are but dust, that if God were to count iniquity, who could stand? This is a holy day, a holiday, because this is the day He has made, that it might be the day in which He remakes us into His glorious image. Let us own our inner fool, and in owning it, repent of it and disown it. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). Happy Jesus’ Fools Day.