Running through my social media feed, I recently ran across an article shared by a non-christian friend, one that immediately grabbed my attention. From what the person posted about it, and the article headline itself, it appeared to be a slam to God. Something about that headline however, piqued my curiosity, so I clicked it and read through. I was surprised. The words were not of those trying to debunk faith as I had assumed. It was actually an article explaining that someone had confessed a wrong due to conviction they felt over a mistake they had made. I closed the article thankful I took the time to read it in its entirety. As I sat there thinking it over, I realized…my friend did not read that article…then my mind immediately jumped to…How often do we look at the headlines of life and build assumptions and advocate things we truly don’t understand?
The surface can be so misleading. Looking at the surface, we endorse things we truly do not know, and had we realized their depth, we may in fact find ourselves embarrassed and not only misleading ourselves but those around us.
Headlines in life come to us through the causes we support, life style choices, and even people.
When it comes to people headlines, they come in the form of the language they use, the words they choose, the way they dress, the way they present themselves. Foul language leads us to believe maybe a person is rough, abrasive, rude and we label them as such. The clothes they wear are not top label, or maybe they are not as covered as we feel they should be, and we label them poor, disrespectful, or we judge them as having a lack of morals. These are all dangerous headlines. If you truly spent time reading through the article of their life and got to know them. You find in most cases innocence. That language you find offensive is what they have always known, and they are actually one of the most gentle people you may find. That woman you label with a lack of morals due to her appearance, if you spent time reading her article and knowing her, you would find she has a heart of gold full of compassion. If we are not careful our instincts draw us to these immediate assumptions, and we are the ones that miss out.
Proverbs 18:2 says, A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion
These are poweful words.
We must be studied, spending time in His word and prayer in order to ensure we don’t take the path of the fool. We must take time and not just read the headlines around us, but actually take the time to read the contents of the articles we encounter. I challenge you today to stop assuming you know what something is about just by looking at its headline. Don’t take the way of the fool. Rather take time to truly understand. Take time and…choose him.