Like most young boys, I got caught up in the silliness of April Fools’ Day. Playing harmless tricks and jokes on friends was pretty much expected.
Then as I matured, the silliness dissipated and I quickly shrugged off the efforts of others to participate in their attempts at harmless humor.
Then again, I do have some past meaningful memories of significant April Fools’ Days. Two stand out: 1981 and 1983.
On April 1, 1981, I started my final corporate position as benefits manager for Rain Bird Sprinkler Corp. in Glendora. Exactly two years later, I resigned that lucrative position and left the confines of corporate life for good.
Four months later, I started my unanticipated career as a life insurance agent. Forty-two years later, I see God’s hand in those significant career moves.
That’s when I started getting serious about my future direction and putting foolishness aside.
In my opinion, these present times call for us to put foolishness behind us. As a follower of Christ, these past few years have been difficult to discern.
The actions of a small portion of society hav gone off the deep end of depravity. They seem to have lost all civility and have no concern for humanity and law and order.
Scripture talks of these days in the Book of Romans. Listen to the prophetic words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:21:
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
I challenge you to read all 31 verses of that first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Christian Church in Rome.
In the first 17 verses, Paul presents the righteousness of God. In the final 14 verses he presents the pitiful condition of the world way back then and where we sadly remain nearly 2,000 years later.
Every April Fools’ Day I’m reminded of the poetic words of King David in Psalm 14. The first verse follows: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”
That’s right. No one. That includes you and me, folks.
Some of us may look a bit better than others, but we all have blemishes that perhaps only God can see. Don’t think too highly of yourself. Please don’t fool yourself!
There was certainly a time in my early years when I thought I knew much. After I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord in April 1984, I realized just how small I was to our all-knowing, all-powerful and all-present Almighty God.
I put away the foolishness of my past and placed my trust in my Heavenly Father. As written in Psalm 20:7: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”