Someone once told me that there is a thin line between Faith and
Foolishness. I could not agree with him then but I have grown to know the
statement is true. In order words, in one's attempt to apply faith, one could
end up being foolish. Now, as Christians, let us not misconstrue this foolishness
to the fact of the world thinking we are foolish for believing in the Father
and His Son, Jesus Christ. The foolishness being referred here is that
resulting either from ignorance or failure to utilize discretion.
The emphasis is not on appearing foolish, but actually acting
foolishly. A typical example is engaging in premarital sex then praying and
hoping that God will cause you not to be pregnant. This
is ridiculous because a drop of semen contains millions of sperms
that have been assigned one sole responsibility of getting you pregnant.
Paul, as a new believer and disciple (Acts 9:22), grew in strength
and even ended up confounding the Jews at Damascus by proving to them that
indeed Jesus is the Christ. However, no matter how strong Paul became in faith,
he and the other disciples did not make fool of themselves when they learned
that the Jews had planned to kill Paul (see Acts 9:24).
What did they do? They applied wisdom! The scripture says:
"Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by
the wall in a basket" - Acts 9:25.
Obviously, what happened in Acts 9:25 above, is not an act of
faith but that of wisdom. The disciples could have thought that because they
are Christians with a strong faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the death threat
by the Jews in Damascus is but a mere joke. Instead, they took the threat
seriously and applied discretion. I am particularly glad that this
scripture is recorded in the book of ACTS, it clearly shows that we as
Christians in our generation must learn this act of wisdom to complement our
faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith does not come to replace our senses and I believe to walk
successfully in faith, we must know the times and seasons. Just as there is
time and season for everything under the Heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1), there
is also a time to apply faith and a time to apply wisdom. Thus, we must not be
overly enthused with our faith in God that we fail to use our senses when we
have to. Shalom!
