FOOL'S PARADISE

The meaning of “Fool’s Paradise” is said to be “a false state of happiness based on false hopes.” That dear friends, is an apt description of those who rely upon this world system for their fulfillment in life.  The emphasis upon obtaining an education, attaining a position of prominence, acquiring possessions, and enjoying leisure seems promise happiness and joy to the one who has them.

One needs only look at the lives of prominent to see the utter fallacy of that premise.  Broken marriages, estranged children, lost fortunes, and destructive addictions attest that something more must be added to the equation in order to experience lasting happiness and joy.

One might deduce the opposite of those lofty ideals is the answer, and he too would find the road littered with the human debris of failed hopes and dreams.  What then, one asks, is the answer to avoiding living in this “Fool’s Paradise?”

The answer lies in death, not the death of the physical body, but the death of the nature inherited at birth.  It is a nature which inherently strives against what is best and seeks after those things perceived as giving immediate pleasure and satisfaction.  A nature which drives one to indulge in that which appeals to the eye, or the touch, or to self-esteem.   A nature whose goal is to bask in the fleeting happiness of a “Fool’s Paradise.”

The next logical question of course is, “How does one’s nature die without the death of the physical body?”  That, my friends, is a great mystery.  The answer has been sought throughout the ages by philosophers, educators, and religious leaders of every stripe.  However, the mystery has been revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. 

The Holy God of the universe, who created all things, and by whom all things consist, has provided a way for each of us to experience both a death of the old nature and a new birth with a new nature without experiencing physical death.  How is such possible?  With God all things are possible.  Is anything too hard for the One who created and sustains the universe?

This death involves a voluntary recognition of one’s need brought about by a working of God in the heart of understanding.  Next a realization of the utter futility of his current course as it takes him farther and farther from God’s ideal while immersing him in the “Fool’s Paradise.”  A shocking understanding of complete helplessness to affect a change in his own life, elicits a cry to God for deliverance from his predicament.  At which time God does a work in the heart of the individual so that he is no longer focused on living in a “Fool’s Paradise,” but rather on knowing and doing the will of God for his life.

If you remain living in a fool’s paradise until this day, you are in danger of dying a physical death without ever experiencing the mysterious new birth God affects in the life of one who comes to Him by faith.  My prayer for you today is that you, too, will turn to Christ and allow Him to give you new citizenship where your name is written down in the Kingdom of Heaven for all eternity.

Jesus said in John chapter three, “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”


From "A Word For Living"
©                 2012            Mike Rasberry