Funny foolishness and not so funny foolishness …

Has someone fooled you today?

It’s April 1, also known as “April Fools’ Day,” the day on which people like to play pranks on one another, making them out (in a fun or funny way?) to be a “fool.” Here’s an example, reported by Warner Pidgeon:

In 1976 the British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore made an announcement on BBC Radio 2. He said this: “At 9:47 a.m. today there will be a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ astronomical event occurring.” He said that listeners could experience it in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth’s own gravity.

Patrick Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, Radio 2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room. The date was 1st April 1976.

April Fools!

Many of us enjoy laughing at a harmless April Fools’ joke, but what isn’t nearly so funny is settling for actually being a fool, something the Bible doesn’t speak well of:

“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline,” Proverbs 1:7.

“The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces,” Proverbs 10:8.

“A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted,” Proverbs 12:16.

“Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble,” Proverbs 13:20.

“Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent,” Proverbs 17:28.

“Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions,” Proverbs 18:2.

“Fools’ words get them into constant quarrels; they are asking for a beating,” Proverbs 18:6.

“Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling,” Proverbs 20:3.

“Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back,” Proverbs 29:11.

“When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him,” Ecclesiastes 5:4.

“Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words,” Ecclesiastes 10:12.

“And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there,” Isaiah 35:8.

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise,” Ephesians 5:15.

Friends enjoy having a laugh together, but living as a fool can be ruinous.

You don’t have to!

God is ready and willing to enable us with the wisdom we need to not suffer the plight of a fool: “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking,” James 1:5.

Scotty