Foolish

I really started my walk with Christ with these lyrics on the first Christian music album I ever owned. It was given to me as a gift. This was the only song I liked on the whole tape (yes friends, tape - we used to have music on cassette tapes that you had to be careful not to snag or else you'd rip the whole thing out, and also you had to use a head demagnetizer from time to time (oh, you didn't know that?) because the sound quality would degrade over time due to static buildup—oh and before that it was the short-lived 8 track and of course vinyls are always a good choice for true music reproduction, but only if you have a really good diamond stylus), but today I could sing any song on it from heart. Scandalon is the album.

Anyhoo! This has come full circle for me I think. I was so resolved to be wise that I lost a little bit of my foolishness. I had it once long ago, but I lost it in church committees, a desire for prosperity, family discipline, corporate America, and most of all: image. I'm back to looking for how to be more of a fool.

God's Own Fool
by Michael Card

It seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind
For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

Chorus
We in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
We in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
If you'll have the faith His first followers had
Then you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

Chorus

So we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well

If you're religious, read on. Otherwise, don't bother.
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I warned you. Wisdom has been extolled, and has run its course. Give it up. It's called the Old Testament or Old Covenant, and it has passed away because it was weak and useless according to God (Hebrews 7, especially verses 18-19). Now read 2 Samuel 7. Was the Lord talking about Solomon, David's son, or about Jesus, David's Son? He spoke on multiple levels and is fulfilling it on multiple levels. Look at 1 Kings 5:7, "When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, 'Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.'" Yep. Solomon was David's wise son, and Jesus was David's foolish Son. And it is the Fool who sits on the throne forever, sorry friends.

Jesus is "the Foolishness of God" and He is wiser than man's wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:25). But you will say to me, keep reading in 1 Corinthians. Chapter 2 says "we do, however, speak a message wisdom among the mature." Actually, it says "among the perfect" and that's part of the problem. The other part of the problem is that the type of wisdom which is Christ doesn't seem wise at all—so anything that sounds wise is generally not. This is a secret, mysterious, mystical wisdom, hidden to ordinary mortals (at least that's what's written and I take it to be true despite what I was advised by wise people).

Sorry to burst your bubble if you thought being a Christian was about being wise. All those folks on the outside throwing stones and accusing us of being fools are actually right.

We have no guarantee of wisdom and all that goes with it: success, riches, security, renown, respect, deference, influence... But we certainly will have the last laugh.