On one of my family holidays, we went to Sydney. One of the ‘tourist things’ we did was to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. As I look back on this adventure, it is clear we didn’t think things through! That particular day, the wind was really strong, and it made walking across the bridge near impossible, but we pushed on.
To make matters worse, there was a particularly strong gust of wind that knocked me off balance, and I found myself being pressed up against the safety rail. However, the safety rail only went up to my hip. I felt like there was more of me above the safety rail than below it. As I looked over the edge, I suddenly realised we were VERY high and it was a long way down to the water below. The impact was that I’m now scared of heights! I know it is irrational, but all the same, I fear being in really high places.
This memory came flooding back to me after I had recently read the following: ‘Poll after poll has found that most people’s greatest fear is speaking in public. Death ranked number two!’
As I sat with this statement, I realised that this means more people would rather die than speak in public. This doesn’t seem to make any sense to me, but it is how people have responded to the various surveys. It made me wonder why. Is it the fear of looking foolish?
Yet the Bible offers a very different perspective to what the world may think of looking foolish. Found in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 1:27, the passage declares: “God chose things the world considered foolish in order to bring shame on those who think they are wise.” The Bible declares that one of the essences of living by faith is the willingness to look foolish.
We find example after example throughout the Bible:
- Noah, who was asked by God to build an ark, though he looked foolish as he built it in the middle of the desert.
- Sarah looked foolish when she was getting her maternity wardrobe ready at the age of 90.
- The Israelites looked foolish as they blew their trumpets and marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days straight.
- David looked foolish going to fight Goliath with just a slingshot and a few smooth stones.
- The Wise Men looked foolish as they followed a bright star to Bethlehem.
- Peter looked foolish as he stepped out the back of his fishing boat in the middle of the lake.
But each of these people were actually demonstrating faith, and the results speak for themselves.
- Noah and his family were saved from the flood.
- Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
- The walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
- David defeated Goliath.
- The Wise Men found the Christ, the Messiah.
- Peter walked on water.
- And Jesus rose from the dead!
The greatest breakthroughs, miracles and turning points in Scripture can be traced back to when someone did what appeared to be foolish, but in actual fact was an act of faith. The words from Isaiah 55:8-9 seem to sum up why these people were prepared to look foolish, because they were acting in faith. They knew in their heart of hearts God’s perspective: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My [God’s] ways higher than yours and My thoughts higher than yours.”
The life lesson we are able to draw from these acts of faithfulness, and share with our students on a daily basis, is that we all have a choice; we can live by the world’s way and worry about whether we look foolish, or live by God’s way, where faith motivates all behaviour.
We want our students to know there is a different way; it is simply known as being motivated by faith – God’s way.
As we move into the Easter season, where we have the opportunity to celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection, the staff and I want to wish you God’s richest blessing, and may you know His love and presence over this very special time of the year.