When you think you understand — but you really don’t understand …

An article I read this past week claims that about forty percent of Millennials get their news from Facebook. While reading that, I had to wonder if it may not be a key source for many people’s theology as well!

In spite of the flow of bad theology on social media, I was brought up short this morning by a meme that caused me to consider the truth of its message. Next to a picture of a cross was this statement: “While hanging on the cross dying, neither those that hated Him or those that loved Him understood why He was there. He died alone.”

Not being understood is a very lonely experience.

We’ve all felt the sting of being misunderstood — when people think they understand us, but they haven’t bothered to gather their facts directly from the source, so they don’t really understand. A lot of people are comfortable living their lives that way, thinking they understand when they really don’t, kind of like the guy in this story told by Victor Yap …

Upon entering a little country store, a stranger noticed a sign reading, “Danger! Beware of Dog” posted on the glass door. Inside, he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor beside the cash register. He asked the store manager, “Is that the dog folks are supposed to beware of?”

“Yep, that’s him,” he replied.

The stranger couldn’t help but be amused. “That certainly doesn’t look like a dangerous dog to me. Why in the world would you post that sign?”

“Because,” the owner replied, “before I posted that sign, people kept tripping over him.”

The stranger thought he understood, but he didn’t really understand until he learned directly from the source. Scripture tells us some aren’t interested in understanding …

“Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions,” Proverbs 18:2.

What’s important to you — actually understanding, or your own opinion?

Scotty