Has anyone ever spoken for you?
Have you ever had anyone represent thoughts or feelings or words as being yours, and they weren’t?
How did you feel about that? If someone has represented you by professing that you had said something, were they accurate? Was it true?
How would you respond if it was not? Even if it was a nice thought, a nice sentiment. How would you feel about being credited for saying something you didn’t?
I am about to be a real kill joy I am sure. I am about to call into question a Super Bowl commercial that appears to have been very well received.
I did not see it aired. I did not watch the Super Bowl. I was in a car driving home that night from the U.P.
I heard the commercial on the radio. The audio was played by a radio station I was listening to on the way to work this morning. The morning host was moved to tears by the commercial. I was not.
It was the Paul Harvey “truck” commercial. Perhaps you saw it? Perhaps you loved it. Perhaps it moved you to tears.
The sentiment was great. It was extolling the virtues of the American Farmer. I have not seen the visual, perhaps it was amazing.
I am a pretty sentimental person. Well, more than that, I am someone who tries to move people. I attempt to put visual images and music together to touch hearts. I paint words on the canvas of this blog in the hopes of causing people to think, feel, reflect, laugh, consider.
But the Paul Harvey commercial didn’t do that for me, at least not in the way they intended. And this is the reason.
He put words in God’s mouth.
I don’t know that God minded the thoughts. But I do wonder how He views the accreditation?
I have done this too. And I wonder what God thinks about that.
And I wonder what the ramifications are when we put words in God’s mouth. Words that it is easy enough to see He did not say.
I wonder if this is not something that God was aiming at when He commanded us not to use His name in vain.
If anyone can be trusted to speak for himself, I think God can. He certainly has said a lot. More than most of us are familiar with. He has certainly said more than I am familiar with, and He has definitely said more than I have heeded.
I like Paul Harvey. A lot. And I like images and words that move me.
Today, however, I am thinking, if you have something you want to say, well, say it.
And speak for yourself.