foolish

“For we also were once foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”  Titus 3:3

Foolish – Airhead!  The term was not coined by Hollywood (although it certainly applies there).  If you want to meet the original airheads, you have to go way back in history.  Paul’s term for “foolish” is literally “without mind”.  In Greek, anoetoi – airhead.

We think of “foolish” as stupid.  Someone who lacks common sense.  But there is a bit more to this word.  The implication is that a foolish person is irrational.  This person just doesn’t use the mind God gave him.  His reason has been corrupted.  He does not exercise mental control over himself.   In the Biblical view, acting according to God’s design is the most rational thing a person can do.  When people act against God’s purposes, they are not simply being rebellious.  They are acting without intelligence.  They are being crazy. 

When did we stop being airheads about life?  When we realized (by God’s mercy) that living in opposition to the design of the universe was completely insane.  Before we came to our senses (like the prodigal son), our thinking was so messed up that we didn’t even know we were being fools.  But once God touched us, our eyes were opened to the craziness we once pursued. 

When I look back at my life before grace, I shake my head at the stupidity of my actions.  I can hardly imagine what I was thinking to act that way.  I agree with Paul.  I must have been crazy.  This perspective helps me realize that there are a lot of people in the world who are walking around with air between their ears.  Trying to talk with them about the real design of the universe doesn’t seem to click.  It’s like talking into an empty room.  Until the Holy Spirit puts some sense in that empty space, the message won’t connect.  But don’t worry.  God connected your head.  He can do it for someone else.

Perhaps the first step in our efforts to reach others begins with a prayer for their minds. 

“Father, rewire the circuits so that they will think.”