The Ultimate Misunderstanding
Have you ever been misunderstood? Maybe someone was listening to what you were saying or maybe you didn’t say it the way you meant it. Maybe you overheard someone speak ill of you when they didn’t know you were listening or maybe they didn’t even know you at all but your name was mentioned in a conversation. When these things happen, we want to fix the problem immediately. We want to explain ourselves and say “no, what I actually meant to say was…” or “no, what you are saying is not true, I’m really this way not that way.”
Being misunderstood is not fun. The more famous someone is in the society or the world, especially notoriously, the more potential they have to be misrepresented. Plus, the more ground they have to cover to explain themselves or prove their true character. If there is a God of this universe (and I believe there is), imagine how misread He is by billions of people. How could He explain Himself and prove His true character?
On a different level, when you have children it is even more frustrating when you see they are misconstrued. You want to jump in and say, “wait a second, my kid may not be perfect, but they aren’t the way you describe” or “careful, that’s MY boy or MY girl you are talking about!” It seems we can be even more emotional about our child being misunderstood than ourselves.
Years ago, God sent His only Son into the world to represent Him. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the most misunderstood Individual in the history of the world. There is so much bad teaching about Him, erroneous rumors about Him, and lack of willingness to learn about what He was really all about it.
There is a letter recorded in the Bible by one of the followers of Christ, written about 20 years after the resurrection of Christ. Toward the end of the letter [1 Corinthians 15:15], it is stated that if Christ really never did rise from the dead then anyone who claims that He did is misrepresenting God. Of course, God doesn’t like to be misrepresented and certainly doesn’t want His Son to be.
If Christ is God’s Son, how does that make God feel when billions of people just don’t get it and don’t care? When we want to be known it causes us to ache when we are avoided. We desire for people to just give us a chance to reveal our true colors. When God sent His Son, He was revealing what He is like cloaked in humanity. So, if you see Christ, you see God.
On Easter at the City of Refuge, we are going to discuss how when you objectively observe the life and actions and words of Christ, you are actually observing God. We believe an unbiased analyzation will not leave you disappointed. Will you give Him a chance to be understood? Maybe you will find in the process that He understands you more than anyone else on the planet. You may also find that He desires with a serious longing to be known by you. Will you join us on Easter to hear about Him?