A few years ago there were billboards scattered throughout the United States with messages from God. Some guy had purchased the space and conducted an advertising campaign for God. Actually, the person responsible for these "Messages from God" chose to remain anonymous. The Smith Agency in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, launched the advertising campaign in September 1998.
Andrew Smith, the agency's president, said that an individual simply appeared in their office one day and hired them on the spot. He said that their agreement with this individual prohibited them from releasing his name but he did say that the person is quite well known.
These 15 messages signed by God appeared on billboards and buses:
- Let's Meet at My House Sunday Before the Game.--God
- C'mon Over and Bring the Kids.--God
- What Part of "Thou Shalt Not ..." Didn't You Understand?--God
- We Need to Talk.--God
- Keep Using My Name in Vain And I'll Make Rush Hour Longer.--God (This add is placed in congested Urban areas).
- Loved the Wedding, Invite Me to the Marriage.--God
- That "Love Thy Neighbor" Thing, I Meant It.--God
- I Love You ... I Love You ... I Love You.--God
- Will The Road You're on Get You to My Place?--God
- Follow Me.--God
- My Way Is the Highway.--God
- Need Directions?--God
- You Think It's Hot Here?--God (During the Summer)
- Tell the Kids I Love Them.--God
- Have You Read My #1 Best Seller? There Will Be a Test.--God
It's a cute campaign and clever and it would be nice if God actually would spend a little more time advertising his thoughts. But this is the fault in us humans. We want a definitive answer. We want some rules to go by and we want to be told how to behave and what we should do. The Ten Commandments do this for us but we slowly found out --through centuries and centuries of countless sins and human atrocities--that we were not able to abide by them, not perfectly.
So what is God to do? Take out an add campaign on our city buses and billboards? No, I don't think so. Instead he does something very different. He says, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." What a difference! Instead of rules written on tablets, buses, and billboards, he says, "I'd like to introduce you to someone special. Here, I want you to meet my son. I love him a great deal. I am so proud of him."
What do you do about that? It's one thing to forget a commandment. It's quite another to slam the door in the face of relative.