Read: 1 Corinthians 1:18-30
No one wants to be called, or even thought of as a fool. I think to make it hit harder, let me use the word idiot, forgive my language. No one wants to be called, or even perceived as stupid. To be made fun of or to be condescended upon is undesirable, even by little children.
Just yesterday my youngest came running to me crying, saying he was made fun of. As it turns out, yes the staff he was with were laughing, but about something else, certainly not at him. The mere thought of him being laughed at hurt his feelings. He felt degraded in his six-year-old heart and mind. How much more with us, full grown adults.
But this is who we are to the unbelieving world: we are fools living the way we live. We are fools standing for what we believe. Well, if we are fools, we are simply marching right behind the champion of fools – the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
He was considered a foolish crucifixion victim. His manner of death invited mockery and insult. Even among the religious, crucifixion was something tantamount to being accursed (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:22-23.)
The Bible says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should esteem Him,” Isaiah 53:2. Furthermore in verse three we read, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.”
The early disciples were also mocked, scorned, victimized, and considered as fools. The message they preached and lived by was regarded as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18)
Indeed, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe, those who consider themselves wise in this world. But for us, the message of the cross is the wisdom of God, the grace of God which opened up our hearts and minds to know His love.
Being identified with His death, we also share in His foolishness to the eyes of the world, for the world considers itself wise (Romans 1:22), and so renders Christians fools (1 Corinthians 1:18-21).
By all means, let us become fools for and with Christ. For the “foolishness” of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength,” (1 Corinthians 1:25). In the end, He will frustrate the intelligent. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate,” (1 Corinthians 1: 19).
The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have,? (Jeremiah 8:9 )
I encourage you today to scorn the shame of the cross. As the world scoffs at you, scoff at it back by serving faithfully. Let us resolve to know Him more, and to know His power. He is the ultimate knowledge to pursue. In the end, the fools for Christ will be exalted, just as He was exalted by the Father.
Reflect:
In your service, in what ways have you experienced or are you experiencing presently, being regarded as a fool? What is your resolve?
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