If you know me well, you know that I have never thought much of Joel Osteen.  I've felt that he isn't a preacher, but rather a motivational speaker. All "milk" and no "meat".  A Christian can't truly grow until he starts eating spiritual meat.

Channel 4 recently started playing Osteen after Chris Wallace on Sunday mornings.  We started just leaving the tv on that station as we went about our pre-Church routine.  So, of course, I started listening to Osteen.

Yes, he is positive.  But also, he is well-spoken and knowledgeable about the Word and how to explain it in ways that anyone can understand.

In last Sunday's message Osteen was speaking about the dismaying problem of being told only negative things about ourselves.

He spoke of the story of the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge.  God came walking through the Garden, and upon not finding his two children, called to them.  They answered that they were embarrassed to speak to him because they were naked.  To which God replied, "Who told you you were naked."

I had always read this as a reprimand.  Adam and Eve has gone against his wishes by eating of the Tree of Knowledge.  In my mind, God had given them everything, denying them only two things, and they did it anyway.

But Osteen's message was this:  God said, "Who told you you were naked."  He was saying, "Who told you something was wrong with you?  That you were imperfect?"

Perhaps God wasn't angry.  He was dismayed.  He was broken-hearted for his children.