Today is known in some parts of the world as April Fools Day.
It is the day when it is culturally acceptable to play practical 'jokes' on people, to trick people and if they fall for the trick they are a fool, and we laugh at them, and everyone is supposed to take it in good fun.
But as the group of young men my husband mentors studies what it means to be a biblical christian rather than a 'cultural christian' via reading the book "Man in the Mirror" by Patrick Morley together, and I read yesterday on Challies.com about worldliness, I am challenged about this 'cultural practice' of the West.
If we are going to be biblical rather than cultural, what does the bible say about what April Fools Day accepts as culturally ok?
Proverbs 26:17-18 says:Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows,
so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!"Proverbs 10:23 says:Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.or as the Holman Christian Standard translation puts it:As shameful conduct is pleasure for a fool, so wisdom is for a man of understanding.
Scripture shows us that God has quite a different view on the matter.
God says in Proverbs 26 that 'I was only joking' is deception, or as the New Living Translation puts it, "Lies"!
Such 'joking' is not 'just a bit of fun' in God's eyes, it is cruel and brings death.
Part of what it brings death to is trust in the relationship.
It reminds me a bit of a childhood story of the 'boy who cried wolf'. He did lots of 'I was only joking' after pretending that he was in danger of a wolf and called all the village to come and help him….and then when he really did have a real wolf and called people to help, no-one came, because they had got tired of running to him to be told 'I was only joking'. They thought he was just doing it again. His word could not be trusted and in the end his foolishness was self-destructive.
This is a trust issue - maybe I'll write more about trust in another blog. But Christians should be people of their word. Their words should be filled with truth, and their word should be trustworthy. If the fruit of the Spirit includes faithfulness, when we are truly allowing the Spirit to fill our lives, we should be characterised more and more by faithfulness - in other words trustworthiness.
Often April Fools jokes are full of laughing at others and 'fun' at another's expense, in the process deliberately shaming and embarassing others by making ourselves look clever and others look stupid and gullible and thus foolish.
This should not be part of the character of the christian. We instead should be known by those whose words and actions bless others and build others up, encourage others and bring growth to others.
God seems to tell us that rather than the ones who are tricked being the 'fools' who are shamed and embarrassed, that the one who does the tricking/joking is the fool and to be considered shameful.
There are plenty of ways to have fun without shaming others and playing with lies and deception, even if it is 'culturally' acceptable.
As Christians we are called to be counter-cultural when the culture of God's family is different.
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