The Inferior Five

The Inferior Five are a comic book superhero team made up of persons who are not what one would expect of such a team. They are Merryman, a 98 pound weakling who wears a jester’s costume and is very smart; Awkwardman, who is super strong but very clumsy; The Blimp, who floats in the air rather than flying. He literally needs a wind to blow behind him. He is blown about by every wind (Ephesians 4:14); White Feather, who is a skilled but emotionally insecure archer; and Dumb Bunny, who is “strong as an ox and almost as intelligent.”

The Inferior Five always win the day. They are truly superheroes. Instead of Inferior, they might more correctly be named the Unlikely Five.

God always choses the unlikely person, the unlikely nation, the unlikely way. His ways seem like foolishness to the world.

He chose, not a powerful empire, but the Jews, to be the nation which He used to reveal and explain Himself to the world. 

He chose a shepherd boy to become the greatest king of Israel and a man after God’s own heart. This man also committed adultery and ordered the murder of a loyal friend.

He chose a woman who was essentially being held as a sex slave by a brutal king. Her assignment was to protect His people from extermination by a scheming government official.

He chose uneducated fisherman, a hated tax collector, a little boy, a cuckolded husband, the wife of a wardrobe keeper, a sheep-herder, and a cousin of the King of Judah, to become His prophets and apostles. 

He chose a Gentile trained in the science of the day to write the first history of the church which began as an exclusively Jewish movement.

He chose a vicious persecutor of His church to become its greatest intellectual and the first great explainer of Christian doctrine. 

Many of us feel that we have no talents, that we have nothing to offer. We fail to remember that God has chosen each one of us and has given each of us the particular abilities we need to perform whatever duties He has for us to perform. He has equipped us to be, and expects us to be, on His unlikely team.

What They Think of Us: Adolf Hitler

“Christianity is an invention of sick brains; one could imagine nothing more senseless.” Adolf Hitler

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;  (1 Corinthians 1:23-27)

Are You Willing to Be Viewed As Strange?

The other day as I was going to work, I saw a clown walking into the Children’s Hospital.  She had on a garishly frilly red, white, blue, and green patchwork quilt dress and a straw hat topped with a large plastic flower.   In her right hand was a small children’s metal Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox.  It was obvious that everyone was noticing her.  How could they not?

The clown was one of the many volunteers who visit the ailing children at Children’s Hospital.  She, like the other clowns, had to overcome her discomfort at drawing attention to herself by appearing in public in ludicrous clothing.  She, at least, would have the comfort of knowing that the people who were looking at her understood why she was doing this.

Christians who strictly adhere to the biblical understanding (worldview) will often be thought to be odd, backward, or unsophisticated when they do not conform to the prevailing customs of their surrounding culture. Sometimes they will be accused of being fools, or worse, “haters.”  As I have stated before, we really are different and they really do not understand.  

Some believers, such as Isaiah, Hosea, John the Baptist, Francis of Assisi, Procopius, Basil Fool for Christ, John the Hairy, Grisha, and many others have carried out seemingly ridiculous actions to draw attention to the faith.  Some, like the Yurodivy (Holy Fools) of Eastern Orthodoxy, have intentionally carried the idea to what many would consider to be extreme.  All of these people have been aware that they are perceived as “strange.”  They value the opinion of the Lord more than they value the opinions of man.

Are you willing to be viewed as strange?  Are you willing to be a Fool for Christ?

“We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.” 1 Corinthians 4:10

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” 1 Corinthians 3:19

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”  1 Corinthians 1:21

Don't Do It!

Don't jump into a pool of alligators. Don't pound in a nail with your eyes closed. Don't squirt gasoline on an open flame. Don't poke a stick at a mountain lion. Don't sleep in a refrigerator. Don't drive your car into a tornado. Stay away from sleazy places. Sometimes sleazy people do sleazy things, perhaps to you.

“A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
 By humility [and] the fear of the LORD [are] riches, and honour, and life, Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them,” Proverbs 22: 3-5

Fools and Vomit

"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly." Proverbs 26:11

Jimmy Swaggert, who had "fool" problems of his own, once told of a sinner who repented of his former "slop" of a life but couldn't quite let go of it. He put it into a slop bucket and put the bucket in the closet. Every so often, he would go into the closet with a spoon and take a little sip. Swaggert called this "slop bucket repentence."