Have you ever been completely misunderstood? You know, you did something or said something with good intentions and (as far as you could tell) with a pure heart, but someone misinterpreted what you said or did and then saw the worst in you? I once had a really close friend stop speaking to me for years all because of a total misunderstanding! Seriously - years with zero communication. And I gotta be honest here: It messed me up. It broke my heart that my friend defaulted to the worst possible explanation of my actions and then shut me out. It was hard. If you’re anything like me and you know how it feels to be completely emotionally rocked by someone else’s negative opinion of you, you have to check this: I was reading the first chapter of John this week and was arrested by the part about a guy named Nathanael. Jesus walked up to this dude, and without even introducing Himself said, “Here is an Israelite in who there is nothing false.” Wow. Jesus picked the sweetest, truest part of who this guy was and brought it out into the open to publicly celebrate it. Nathanael had just gotten back from having his quiet time under a fig tree and he really was trying to walk this thing well. Jesus said, “Dude, I see that in you. I know you’re trying to be real and I love that about you.” Immediately, Nathanael called Jesus his teacher, God and King. In other words, if there’s someone who sees all of me and chooses to highlight the best parts, I want to give my heart and life to Him. I want to care about His opinion and forget everyone else’s.
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