Over the past few years, we have had the unfortunate opportunity of hearing and/or viewing sound bites of different people speaking. Sound bites are used to have others hear only a portion of what another person may be saying. These sound bites can be used to portray something negative about what the person has said, or positive. It all depends on the perspective or intention of the person presenting the sound bite.
If we do not research the sound bite, we will accept what was said as the end all commentary by that person. However, often when we do engage in further investigation of the sound bite, we learn that there was more to what the person said and that what they said did not come near to the understanding or surmise that we walked away with.
This happens, I find, with preaching the Gospel. Many of us church grown people hear and have heard statements about God, His Word or how we are supposed to be, for so long, that we accept them at face value. What I mean, is that we tend not to research what has been said or read. We develop our own conclusion about what was said or heard, which is often based upon someone else’s slant or our own life experiences and/or family and environmental background.
Many times these conclusions are false. Some walk away with thoughts about God and/or Christianity that are more negative than positive. But, dare not say this aloud to anyone else, especially a fellow Christian. What happens though is that our attitude, behavior and sometimes lifestyle show that we have a conflict with what and Who we say we believe.
You may still pray, continue as a churchgoer and doing the “Christian thing,” however carry with you bitterness and resentments toward God because you think that He has given you a hard Way to follow. Or, that what you have heard or read is just really so wrong of God that you are afraid to fully trust Him. Others walk away altogether, concluding that they will not serve a God who is so humanly negative.
This has happened with the following verse (sound bite) that we so often hear, but do we really understand?
One of the Ten Commandments:
(also found in Deut 5:1-22)
And God spoke all these words, saying:
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.
"You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exodus 20: 1-3 NKJV
And
Exodus 20:5-6
…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
but showing mercy to thousands,
to those who love Me and keep My commandments. NKJV
If we do not further investigate, we can leave these verses thinking that God has the human way of jealousy whose outcome is usually negative. The bigger problem that I see with the potential conclusions regarding these verses, is this:
If we do not see God as the One and Only God and
the CREATOR of everything or
if we do not believe that the Bible is True (a literal believing)
than we can only relate to God as being like a human being
and mainly because the unspiritual cannot understand spiritual matters (matters pertaining to the True and Living God). It is our belief (our heart of faith) in God that opens our eyes, hearts, minds, wills, and ears to greater understanding and revelation of God and His Word. We receive the power of the Holy Spirit that allows us to understand.
God being jealous is because He created us and everything else, so knows what is best for us and what will and will not work for us. What is good for us bringing us benefit and what is not good for us bringing destruction (our adversary’s goal is to kill, steal, and destroy, as many people as he can in order to keep them from serving Almighty God; and he will do so by using us against ourselves if he can).
God’s jealousy is actually another side of His awesome love for us.
God gives us every opportunity to know Him which we do not often realize. Knowing Him leads us to understanding His loving concern and care for us. People, and especially some of those who are supposed to represent our God (parents, preachers, teachers, etc.), or at least lead us to seeing Him in a good way, at times, act out the negative. These negative acting out incidences cause many of us to think that God is like that, too.
(And please, don’t misunderstand me, I don’t say this to demean anyone because we all have done negative things…sinned and fallen short. What I am referring to is a consistent lifestyle of negative, even though sometimes done in ignorance of what is God’s way of doing things.)
However, if you make a decision to further investigate God and His Word, with even an ounce of faith, He will reveal Himself to you allowing you to have a personal experience with Him. You will never walk away! And you will never again settle for a “sound bite!” You will develop a hunger and thirst for Him, for His way of doing things and a love for Him that motivates your life. You will also receive a new perspective, a good and positive one; a perspective that will fill you with righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost! (Romans 14:17)
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