Nobody's Fool!

April Fool’s Day you are here once again, and every year you manage to catch me out either because I forget you exist or just because I am quite possibly the most gullible person you will meet. It’s the special BBC News story that you always seem to get me on. Those smiling trustworthy faces of the news reporters that keep us so well informed of the goings on around the world, manage for one day to lead us into a false sense of security and as part of a worldwide ‘in’ joke, and lie to the whole nation. This year I have seen you coming, I’m prepared and I won’t fall into your clever traps!

It is no surprise though that so many of us do stumble into the beginning of April in a confused and humiliated daze, we put our trust in people, giving them the benefit of the doubt. In this modern era we are use to being told from external pressures such things as what the ‘must buys’ are, how we should dress and what we are expected to act like. Somehow so many people believe that all of these things will make you a better person. Somehow so many people believe that this is true.

How often do we open our own eyes to the actual truth? How often do we put down the makeup and believe that we are beautiful the way God made us? How often do we find ourselves engrossed in the practical side of life, the stresses, the jobs, the deadlines, and praise God for the gifts or opportunities he has given to us through them?

Even as Christians it is so easy to find ourselves walking alongside every other member of society as the days, weeks, years pass by, subconsciously adhering to and being influenced by what they believe to be the truth. Sometimes we can find ourselves genuinely believing them to be true too.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

(John 3:16)

Now that is a stunning truth. We are loved so much that not only did God give us life, as well as everything we needed as a means to live, but he sacrificed for us something so precious to Him that would give us the chance to be able to spend eternal life with Him - His own son.

Somehow all of those small and insignificant “truths” seem to just fade away don’t they?

A big part of being a Christian is to defy expectations that we naturally and humanly feel compelled to do or that we feel is expected of us in society. We are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, to not roll with our impulses and temptations but remain dedicated to the Bibles teachings, and to have a faith in God that much of the modern world challenges us to abandon.

By praying to our Father, fasting, and giving alms, Lent allows us to focus on what is really true, and Jesus couldn’t have made it any clearer:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life”

John 14:6

We should follow Jesus’ example and not desire things selfishly or take the gifts that God has given us for granted. Above all we should not to keep ourselves from having a living breathing relationship with the one who made us, gave us everything, and did everything in his power to give us the chance to be with him for eternity.

So keep your eyes open, stay dedicated and spend some quality time with our Father this Lent. Constantly keep learning from him. Allow yourself to be challenged by him as well as everything that life throws at you, you might just surprise yourself.

Don’t be fooled but hold onto what you know to be really true, forever keep looking to the cross and take this time of Lent to be the opportunity to delve even deeper into your faith and the love of God.

Ruth Eaves, 21

From York. Studying Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham