Only a Fool Believes

After my last post went up, the Holy Spirit gave me new insight on my struggle to make peace with the reality that I’m a fool. In short, He reminded me that only a fool believes, and my life with God requires my belief.

And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved? 

And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well.
Acts 16:30-31 AMP

Believing entails a great deal more than simple agreement or assent! The Amplified Bible’s rendering of the word “believe” here is astonishing. To believe in something is to leap out with total trust and no reservations. I’ve often operated under a much more anemic and toothless understanding of what it means to believe. In fact, when I was young, I thought that it was strange that all God wanted was for me to believe in Jesus and He’d save me. I mean, that’s not hard, right? “I believe in You, Jesus! Yay, I’m saved now!” Salvation may be free, but easy? Not so much. Believing is far from theoretical and far beyond mere mental assent.

I don’t think it’s an accident that we mostly hear the word fool where love is concerned. Elvis warned that “only fools rush in,” and he was right. It’s a funny thing. The world tolerates fools in love, because no matter how “enlightened” humanity gets, everyone who’s ever fallen in love knows that you become the world’s biggest fool for a while—you’re just too deliriously happy to care.

We’re meant to have the ultimate love affair with the Lord; that’s what the Holy Spirit was reminding me. A fool in love BELIEVES, and all else is just background noise. It is this bliss that I experience in my new creation. I don’t worry about the world or anyone in it, because I have everything I will ever need in Him. And if Jesus can capture and save me, flooding my cold, withered heart with love and life, then He can do the same for anyone.

When I worry about being a fool, when I fight against the reality that I am foolish and weak, then I know that I have shrugged off the glorious New and slipped into the sad, filthy Old. In the New, being a fool isn’t a problem. In my New Creation, I’m not just a fool – I’m a fool in love. And there’s a reason that so many love songs reference such a condition…it’s a truly wonderful state of being.

I bless the Cross that comes and removes every obstacle to the Love of God I so desperately need and want. I thank You, Father, that You won’t stop until there’s nothing left of me but a fool in love.