Lessons from Get Fuzzy (the comic strip)

Take a moment to look this this Get Fuzzy comic strip from March 13, 2011.  Once you stop laughing, scroll down to see the serious lesson we can learn from Bucky and Satchel.

Now if you have a sense of humor like I do (which my wife says is a very weird one) you probably had a hard time catching your breath after that one.  I think picturing Bucky's reaction on the next to last frame was almost as funny as what the artist actually drew in the strip.  By the way, it is ok for Christians to laugh, and even use humor (in a respectful manner) to teach a point. 

 

I shared this strip with you not just to give you a good laugh but to illustrate my point - how often we read something and assume it's meaning and only to be quite mistaken.

For example...how many wise men visited the baby Jesus?  

Did you say three?  

 

Truth is, we don't know many visited Jesus and his family but they most likely traveled in a group larger than just three.  So where do we get the number three?  Simple - they came bearing three different types of gifts - gold and frankincense and myrrh.

 

Obviously Bucky and Satchel are not real so their mistake was not critical.  And thinking there were three wise men does not have a significant impact on the Gospel message.  But these examples, while humorous, underscore a very dangerous truth.

When we read something, even Scripture, we often put our own interpretation on what it says often times with no regard to context of or the truth behind that which we read.  In Scripture, this can dramatically change a Biblical truth into a heresy.

One example: Colossians 1:15 says "He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."  Taken out of it's context and read without understanding the Jewish culture and the original language you could interpret this to mean Jesus was born in the sense of having a beginning.  

 

I know this may be shocking to some, but Scripture was not originally written in English.  When we understand the culture and language, we understand the word firstborn speaks to His rank or preeminence, in other words, it speaks to Jesus Christ being exalted above all creation.

 

Jesus Christ is God and is eternal.  He has no beginning or end.  In fact Colossians goes on to say "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

 

Before opening your Bible, always take a moment and ask God to reveal the truth of His Word each time.