Welcome to the second quarter of the year 2025 everyone. And of course that starts with April 1st (April Fools Day).
I will endeavor to balance this post out with a discussion about the wise as well.
Traditionally, April Fools is considered lighthearted and a cause for humor and not to be injurious to any taken by pranks played on the unsuspecting.
This is not the case however all the time. There are those who live to enjoy the suffering of others, who's souls are bereft of compassion, empathy, or honor, who live for the kill and injury they inflict at another's expense. It can occur in the psychological realm, as well as the physical. This day is easily taken as license to go beyond common-sense limits and boundaries of ethics and safety.
Like another day to celebrate Trick or Treat, it is a sad day to be honored by fools so much.
Traditionally, "The Fool" (as a noun) has been used as a reference to an entertainer or a court jester for use to break tensions and introduce comic relief.
"The Fool" (as a noun) also is referenced in some cultures as the effect of random chaos and a trickster motif.
"The Fool" (as an adjective) has been used as a description since ancient times toward those individuals who do not learn or grow character, but in the negative sense as to wickedness and mischief, where they pridefully expound on their arrogance and error. Attempting to force their life of a lie on to everyone else.
Biblically speaking, the nature of a fool is the lack of understanding, lack of desire to understand, and a reactionary impulsiveness, rejecting guidance, disregarding wisdom, in which they make poor choices often with harmful consequences to themselves and those around them. And a big sad part of it is that they will never change from forces outside of themselves. As with anyone, change comes from within.
The "Wise man" is reserved, considers an answer before speaking, sometimes choosing not to speak in discernment. The "Wise man" seeks to learn, is humble enough to know he is a fool as well and is reaching for wisdom and understanding. Self-evaluating and empathic to others (even the fool). He can identify foolish behaviors both in others as well as within himself to correct his course of actions and words to seek and strive towards wisdom in his daily Spiritual journey. If he understands "The Fool" and their nature, he can avoid the pitfalls they fall into.
As a Christian, we should desire to gain greater insights and develop a life that reflects the wisdom and divine love of God.
Proverbs devotes a large portion of its verses to both fools as compared to the wise man.
I picked two of the many verses about fools for this post.
Proverbs 10:23
Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool,
And so is wisdom to a man of understanding.
Proverbs 27:22
Though you grind a fool in a mortar,
grinding them like grain with a pestle,
you will not remove their folly from them.
The first I chose for the implication of the callousness (insensitive and cruel disregard for others) which embodies the nature of a fool in relation to those around them.
The second I chose for the fact that they usually never change, nor ever care to.
I thought I might also share some quotes about fools and the wise from the secular world that have some profound truths as well about them.
Fools:
“Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”
- Obi Wan Kenobi [Star Wars: A new Hope]
“Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool who argues with him?”
- Variation of the above and a general theme of Proverbs on Fools and the Wise
Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
- Mark Twain
He who asks, is a fool for 5 minutes, but he who does not ask is a fool forever.
- Mark Twain
It's easier to fool people, than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
- Mark Twain
The Wise:
A wise man may look ridiculous in the company of fools.
- Thomas Fuller
A wise man confesses his wrong, but a fool defends it.
- Dr Doug Weiss
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.
- Jim Eliot
This last one of course applies so richly to that precious gift of salvation we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.
A couple last quotes about "being fooled". Relate more to a self-reflection of an observation of the act of being fooled and a guarding tactic against being fooled.
Sometimes you just have to play the role of a fool
to fool the fool who thinks they are fooling you.
- Anonymous
There are two ways to be fooled.
One is to believe what isn't true;
the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
- Soren Keirkegaard
With all this said let us remember this; that the reverence for God is the foundation of true wisdom. Our choice for Christ has made us wiser than we know now, and we will know it in the future.
Let us continue to seek wisdom and understanding in the days and years ahead of us that we have been allotted. Pray for discernment, pray for wisdom, pray for peace. Above all, pray for everything.
Grace and Peace to you in our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh!
