The post appeared in my feed. Just a short story about how my friend’s mail guy had a Monday Moment and took out her mailbox—splintered post and all. She posted with just a picture and a comment that read something like,
“Pray for our poor mail guy. He’s having a tough day today.”
Followed by cute hashtags, of course. Things like #MondayMadness or whatever.
Then it got interesting. Someone asked what happened. My friend said she thought his mirror caught the box and just ripped it right off.
And what was just a simple request for prayer became a slew of unsolicited and unhelpful advice.
“The Post Office should pay for that!”
“You need to report him!”
“That’s so wrong!”
Ad nauseum.
She tried to explain that she hadn’t posted to rant. She wasn’t trying to blast the poor kid. Being human and having made mistakes herself, she just wanted folks to pray for a kid who had a rough day and needed a bit of encouragement.
Don’t know about you, but I see it every day.
The post appears. “Should I be antsy and unable to sleep at night if I take B vitamins in the morning?”
The answer follows.
“B vitamins are great for energy. Try taking them in the morning so you have the energy all day and can sleep at night.”
*Blink*
Look, I get it. People sometimes misread something. We’ve all done it. But I have to ask:
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Why Is It That People NEVER Read?
I’m sure it’s been a problem since before the internet, but I have to say, I have noticed it more since being online. Message boards—that’s where I first noticed. Someone would say that her husband wouldn’t ever eat rice or beans in any form, but she needed to find meatless meals to stretch the food budget. I guarantee you half of the responses would include rice and beans.
Facebook isn’t any better. I see it almost every day. You know, it reminds me of that verse in Proverbs 18—
He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him.
Yeah. That.
Because, you know, these folks do look rather foolish when they answer with the very thing the person said wasn’t a factor. “What movies are there about fairy tales that aren’t done by Disney?”
“Oh, you want to check out all the Disney princesses. They’re all well-known fairy tales.”
*insert head banging here*
Of course, with my love for the book of James, I also can’t help but throw in James 1:19 here: This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
“Swift to hear. Slow to speak.”
Those are important words.
Basically, we need to listen.
Period. We need to focus on the words someone has said (or written). Pay attention.
Too often we’re doing the opposite—formulating our response based on a few keywords as the person began to speak. We answer what we think someone said because we spent the whole time they were talking coming up with our own 0.02.
How rude.
And, of course, I can’t help but wonder…
Do I do that with God? *don’t answer that*
No, really. Do I?
I mean, He’s spoken. The Word is there. Laid out for us. In black, red, and white. But we’re so busy spewing our own opinions about things that we only take a few words, grab onto them, and formulate entire life plans based upon words we like instead of the whole counsel of God—the entire Bible.
Forget that. Half the time we don’t bother to read a whole passage. We’ve created entire theology systems based on pulling a few words out of context and saying, “See! This is what God wants for you.”
Is it me, or does that sound like answering before you hear all of the story—like “not reading” the whole thing before coming up with a solution? Or, in other words, like seeing that the mail guy knocked over a mailbox so that must mean this post is about what an idiot he is and urging the box owner to demand restitution from the Post Office?
What’s the solution? I don’t know. But I do think one big key is knowing the Word—all of it.
I’ve been doing this Bible in 90 Days Plan.
It’s tough. Really tough. We’re talking about fifteen chapters a day—give or take. It’s a lot to read, but I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before. And one of the things I’m seeing is the big picture.
So often we dig down deep into a verse—a word, even. We want to extract every nugget and morsel from the Bible that we can. And that’s a good thing!
However, when we do that, we tend to get tunnel vision—forest-for-the-trees syndrome, as it were. Reading it fast means you don’t have time to dig deep, and it shows things that you miss at other times.
Reading like this also shows everything in context. I’m seeing the whole context of the law. Not just the rules and the sacrifices. I’m seeing God calling His people to holiness—one they’ll never achieve without a Messiah to save them. Without Jesus.
And we’re called to that same holiness today.
“Be holy for I am holy.” And there’s only one way to do that. Lose ourselves in the Word—to let it infuse us until it is the first thought in any situation.
We need to learn to be still before the Lord. To look only to the Word to know what God wants from us. If we just listened to it… If we followed only it. Just the Word. If we didn’t “answer a matter” before we read all of the Word to know what all God said about it…
How beautiful would that be?
I feel a new book coming on. Taking what Dean learned in Corner Booth and expanding it in a new way… all from reading the Word.
Then again… Madeline is starting to do this in Fine Print. Maybe it’ll take off more in there. We’ll see, I guess.
Meanwhile, I’ve got fifteen chapters waiting for me. And, well, I need to go reread this post over on Facebook before I put in my penny’s worth. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up suggesting my friend get a post office box to save herself the hassle of reckless mail guys or something.
And wouldn’t that be rather ironic after this post? Annoying… and ironic.
Corner Booth! I forgot about that one. And I can’t wait to read more Madeline…and pretty much anything you write, including blogs apparently. ?
Ouch! And yes! And Amen! And wow! Definitely needed this reminder. I try not to do this, but I have done it. And I talk. Too much at times. Listening is a skill I need to strengthen and hone.
I started over, trying again to read the Bible through this year. Sometimes I think doing it faster is easier than trudging along all year. But we all do need to know that whole story, Gen-Rev, inside out and backwards. There’s so much to be found in the “hard” books and in the overly-familiar books. The Book is Life. If we know it…so I’m off to read!
YES! I’m hoping that doing this both at lightning speed and at a slow, steady pace… and then in my Bible study at a crawl (a chapter a week or so) will help me see everything so much clearer. I hope.
Sadly that happens all too often in far too many areas of life! A particularly hard struggle is the fact the hubby just can’t repeat what he said that I didn’t hear but goes off on some tangent that has nothing to do with nothing! Or I’m sharing something with him and he’s preparing his answer before he even knows what I’m talking about! Crazy!
On another note, I’m doing the 3 month Bible challenge too, the I may be a little behind, I do have to say it’s opening my eyes up to things I have missed in other readings! Loving it!! I’m actually listening to it…faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God!!
I’m listening, too! It’s super cool to do this. I’m so glad I decided to make it happen.
Thanks, I needed that.
Sigh. I did, too. It’s an easy thing to do, and I need the reminder myself.
Wow Chautona,
That was really timely and good. Now, I’m challenged to truly read all the posts before I comment. I have seen what you said and I’ve been just as bad (I’m sure) at times.
Thank you for sharing this. I’m going to strive to be more careful and aware of what is said before I open my mouth.
I also loved your Bible reading challenge. I’d have a hard time doing that, at least at this time while I’m still working at the school. Of course, I guess I could make all sorts of excuses. Maybe I just need to be more organized and committed. I do have a devotional and Bible Study I do in the mornings, but they aren’t that long of passages. Thanks again!
I’ll be honest. It is NOT easy. NOT. I’m a day behind right now. But, I’ll be caught up by tonight. Listening while I do things really helps. But wow. Sigh. Wish I’d done this before. I think I’m going to make it an annual thing. After all, it’s only one quarter. So, I think I’m going to come up with a reading plan for 9 months for the rest of the year.
Look what I found! http://fpcfw.org/rb9m/
Wow! How well said and how convicting! Thanks for sharing this. I read through the Bible in thirty days a few years ago while nursing a colicky miserable baby who was only happy nursing. It was life-changing to take in the whole thing so quickly! I saw connections I had never seen before, and the ONE BIG STORY of Scripture became so obvious.
THIS!!! This is what I’m talking about. It is lifechanging that way!
I see all that you are saying. I have been frustrated about the inability for people to read emails, posts, texts, IMs since I’ve started using all those things. Sadly, I have been known to post an unthinking comment, so who am I to say this, but yes, it is very frustrating to go through the trouble of carefully writing a post, email, etc. only to have it not read and some odd answer come back. I have had long, long, long IMs with friends who don’t get what I’m saying, because clearly they are not reading. I have scratched my head at answers from bosses, because clearly they didn’t read all my email. AND honestly, I’ve probably done it too a number of times. I think reading on tiny screens is a problem, information overload and multi-tasking and just plain lack of discipline contribute to it all.
I love what you said about picking and choosing from the scripture without reading (hearing) the WHOLE scripture. My husband and I were just reading a devotional by R.C. Sproul about prayer and building a whole prayer on what we want mixed with some little tidbit of scripture. And then being disappointed because we didn’t get an answer to our prayer.
Excited to see how “your people” put this into practice as you write their stories 🙂
I feel your pain. I do. I have no doubt that sometimes it’s me–I didn’t write clearly. But when I know there’s no doubt that anyone should be able to understand, I have to accept that people just don’t care.
I’m excited about this, too.
I agree with you. We need the Big Picture: Christ is the thread through the WHOLE Bible, from Genesis 1:1 to the last verse of Revelation! He is the Alpha and Omega! He didn’t leave anything undone! He fulfilled every “ jot and tittle”. We Lutherans say the Bible is the Manger that hold the Savior!
Thanks for this post. We really need to read and not just skim. Blessings!
You made me think of this quote by Luther: “For some years now, I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant.”
Ha! Love this post and have seen it myself. And probably done it myself once or twice and then had to put the “here’s your sign” on my forehead.
I love that you’re reading the Bible in ninety days! that is amazing and time consuming and awesome. Are you going to redo it every ninety days?
I think I’m going to do it every year. 90 Days in the first quarter and then 9 months for the rest. http://fpcfw.org/rb9m/
This is so true! And not just on social media. At work I’ll spend time writing a thoughtful e-mail to explain everything to someone only to have them reply with a question that is clearly answered in the second paragraph.
Than you for the thoughtful post and the great way you pointed this back to the Bible.
That Bible in 90 Days plan sounds amazing and crazy all at once. 🙂 I’m sure you will be greatly blessed by it!
RIGHT? I’ve even done that in a face-to-face conversation.
“I think we should consider going to Lancaster for that. We can get everything we need at Costco or Smart & Final. And then we can go ahead and go to In-N-Out for dinner and be home before time to go to that movie.”
“But where would we get that stuff in Lancaster?”
*insert head banging here*
Hi there…yep….you and I have talked about this one before. Maybe they “skim it” and see what they want to….G-d bless ‘em
Yep. Sigh. But you know what, staying aware of it might help us avoid it in ourselves. Or, I like to hope, anyway!
Oh, you are so right about this! I talk way too much and my children have learned from me. We were having a particularly rough time with finishing a brother or sister’s sentance incorrectly and commenting on the topic without the person even finishing their sentance. The Lord led me to Proverbs 17:28 Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues. I must say that it has been effective.
Well, one thing I didn’t confess to is learning about talking too much the hard way. Somehow, reading, on the other hand, I usually don’t make that mistake (not that I never have… but usually that’s because my brain mixed up something or I got interrupted). In person, though. Well, you saw me. I chat. A LOT. *blush* Maybe that’s why I like you so much. You “get” me.