It is paradoxical but nevertheless true that there are those in this world who are Wise Fools. There are also those who are foolishly “wise.”
To which class do you belong?
I hope that you have classed yourself with those who are characterized by the caption of this article.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a Wise Fool? You undoubtedly answer this question with an emphatic “no!” because such an interpretation of your life has never coursed through your mind nor is this part of the daily thinking that you do concerning your life in this sin-cursed world.
You are characterized as a fool by those who will not accept nor live according to the principles that you hold to be true.
If you believe in a God that sustains and upholds all things by the Word of His power you will undoubtedly be challenged on many sides by those who will not accept this interpretation of the existence of all things. There are those scoffers who will not accept the principle that God is the measure of all things but fabricate all sorts of excuses and seeming scientific axioms that would dispute the existence of both a transcendent and personal God who is represented and exists in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
In our somewhat sheltered Christian lives when it is so much the “vogue” to class oneself as a Christian we are not so often castigated because we cling to the principles illicited above. It is when we attempt to live lives of real consistency and want to eschew all evil in whatever form it presents itself that we are characterized as the foolish in this world – and we are, according to the measure of man.
According to the measure and standard of men it is the most foolish thing in the world to establish distinctive Protestant Reformed Christian Schools where the covenant seed can be instructed. From a purely formal educational point of view it is highly possible that the instruction given in our schools may in some cases be inferior to that given in some public, tax-supported schools. (I sincerely hope that this is not the case.) Certainly from a financial point of view our schools are a decided liability. Parents who send children to schools which demand tremendous expenditures of tuition are certainly “fools” according to the measure of man.
The fact that our churches have taken a stand against union membership is also most foolish. The days are coming and will come sooner than we dare to imagine when jobs will be available only to those who will yoke themselves unequally with the children of this age.
The fool according to the measure of man will be the one who will not be willing to accept the mark of the beast. Only the foolish will not be able to buy or sell in the days of severe persecution.
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I want to point you to one of the greatest of all fools according to the measure of man. We read of him very early in the book of Genesis. He did one of the most foolish things that is imaginable: he built a huge boat, 562 ½ feet long, 93 ½ feet wide, and 56 ¼ feet high. To add to his foolishness he built this huge monstrosity on dry land far removed from any water. The story he told added to the foolishness of his venture so it seemed to the people who watched him build for 120 years. He preached that God was going to send a great flood and that this clumsy vessel would be the means whereby God would save his own from the flood waters that would rise above the face of the earth.
Can’t you see them doubled over with laughter as they watch Noah and his three sons putting finishing touches on the clumsy bark in the middle of dry land. Imagine the taunts that Noah and his sons had to endure as sun continued to shine each day and no evidences of a flood seemed to appear.
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Imagine too the looks of dread and consternation that must have fallen on the faces of these mockers, those who are really fools as the rain began to fall and all that Noah had preached for 120 years began to become a reality.
Noah who seemed to be a fool was really wise. He was wise because God caused him to be wise. God worked faith in his heart so that he, who according to the measure of man is foolish, is nevertheless the wise in this world.
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This is our position in this world too. We who seem to be so foolish, are the wise of this world. “The fool hath said in his heart, “there is no God.” The wise hath confessed the God that the fool refused to accept.
No matter how foolish our programs may seem to be, no matter how unwise our principles appear to men, they are the most wise and sensible thing in this world.
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Strive more and more to become one who is a fool according to the measure of men but is wise in the eyes of him who makes all his own “wise fools.” Young people don’t be ashamed of your foolishness; be happy to be called a fool.