Being a Fool for Christ

1 Corinthians 4:10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

Being a fool for Christ means that we are secure enough and passionate enough in our faith that we simply don't mind looking a bit foolish in the eyes of other church members, family, neighbors, and co-workers. This term of Paul's is not so much discussed today, but was easily understood at the time Paul wrote. Back then, being a believer was not so mainstream and it meant that you were fully out of step with all of the societal norms of the day. It is what is needed today.

Being a fool for Christ meant ministering to prostitutes, the poor, Samaritans, lepers, and other morally unclean people. Doing these things would be seen as foolish by fellow church members or by the standards of the society at the time. How are you and I seen by others?

Paul is simply saying, that those who choose to live for Christ are willing to risk reputation and status for the express purpose of pleasing God above all things.