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A Boy
Blowing on an Ember to Light a Candle
El Greco
1570
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Proverbs 17:20 ~ “A man of crooked heart
does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.”
Proverbs 21:23 ~ “Whoever keeps his mouth
and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.
All sin is
pointless and hurtful to self and others but some sins seem to amplify the negative
impact in people’s lives. It is the very nature of living in community with
others that there will inevitably be communication hiccups. We certainly do not
need to help the interpersonal miscues along and foster relational friction.
The Devil thrives on these small individual daily disasters to cause chaos and
disorder in our homes, work, schools and the public square.
Another person
gives you a look. Your wife never texted you back. Your friends went to lunch
without you. If we look hard enough we can find reasons to be offended by other
people’s behaviors all day and every day. Most often you being offended for no reason
is because you’ve ascribed or attributed bad intent to people’s actions. Come
to think of it, to ascribe any intent on a person’s behalf without knowing what
they are really thinking is foolhardy and dangerous. It is also a complete lack
of trust of the person (and others as we will learn). Taking every action or
lack of action as a personal affront is a tremendous mistakes and only leads to
heartburn or heartache.
When you
assume people are angry, you usually respond in kind. When you assume people
hate you, you usually respond in kind. It doesn’t take long to see the
horrendous damage this mindset inflicts on one’s self and those around us unaware.
Our proclivity to jump to conclusions about other people’s actions kindle fires
that consume grace. The worst form of this is when humans ascribe bad intent to
God. This of course is ridiculous and makes no sense when the Bible tells us
that God does things in our best interest and for our long term benefit. What
is sad is that we can indirectly ascribe bad intent to God indirectly by the
way we tread other people. How you ask? Read on.
A person
content in all circumstances that does not allow their circumstances or the
intent of others to affect their walk with God anyway. When someone assumes the
worst about others it screams of a much worse underlying relational condition
with God. It assumes that things are not being orchestrated by God in your best
interest or long-term benefit. To believe this is to not believe what the Bible
has told is true. The Bible tells us that God does things to benefit us, not
harm us. So by assuming the worst about someone exposes that we have assumed
the worst about God’s intent also. This is blatant disobedience based in a
total lack of faith.
Jeremiah 29:11 ~ For I know the plans that I
have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to
give you a future and a hope.
Philippians 4:11 ~ “Not that I speak from want,
for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”
Happy people
do not do this. They don’t take things personally. They don’t make every
incident and event personal tragedy. They don’t ascribe intent to the
unintentional actions of others. This isn’t smart nor is it Biblical. The only
intent that we can know for certain has already been communicated to us through
the Bible. It is God’s intent and he has a plan that is all but complete. A
plan that involved our sinful condition, the sending of His Son in accord with Scripture.
A plan that saw His Son crucified, buried and resurrected the third day. A plan
that would restore man to the good graces of the Father justified and saved
from their sins.
Furthermore,
a person that loves does not assume the worst or ascribe intent to others
actions without knowing for sure of the intent behind the action. 1 Corinthians
13:5 indirectly speaks to ascribing intent. It tells us that love…
1 Corinthians 13:5 ~ “…does not dishonor
others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs.”
This verse
is the dividing line between good and evil, love and hate. It is at this very
point that a Christians has to make a decision. They can dishonor others, self-seek,
easily angered, and keep records of wrongs….or not. To choose to do so forces a
person to make many assumptions that might not be true….or they can just love a
person and chose to overlook many of the perceived faults. Even if there was malicious
intent by another, we still have a choice in how to respond to it and to assume
the worst is never better than an attempt to first forgive.
Love does
not assume the worst about other people. Love doesn’t jump to conclusions.
It seeks to understand the other person even if we feel we’ve been wronged.
Love seeks to get all the facts of the situation before making a final decision
that will affect the relationship with other people and God. Thinking the best
of others is not naivety. As Christians we are still called to be critically discerning.
To separate the good from the bad. If there is an overbearing or overt evidence
of malevolent intent we need to tread cautiously but toe assume everyone is evil
and no one does things for righteous reasons is to ignore a majority of
Scripture. Yes, man is inherently fallen and sinful but through Christ, men are
saved and can do things for righteous reasons. To assume otherwise is to doubt
God’s word. Again, a lack of faith.
James 1:19-20 ~ “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
If we do not assume good intent of others actions we therefore delight in negativity and wrongdoing o the other person. As the Proverb at the beginning of this post alludes to, when we assume bad intent we will set ourselves on a footing for slanderous speech and maligning people. All this because we feel we’ve been wronged…even when we haven’t. We become the thing that we accuse the other person of being. Instead of the accused being guilty of the sin we’ve accused them of (slander), we become the thing we despise. So not only are we guilty of being slanderous ascribing guilt to the innocent which is injustice, we also become guilty of hypocrisy at the same time.
James 1:19-20 ~ “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
If we do not assume good intent of others actions we therefore delight in negativity and wrongdoing o the other person. As the Proverb at the beginning of this post alludes to, when we assume bad intent we will set ourselves on a footing for slanderous speech and maligning people. All this because we feel we’ve been wronged…even when we haven’t. We become the thing that we accuse the other person of being. Instead of the accused being guilty of the sin we’ve accused them of (slander), we become the thing we despise. So not only are we guilty of being slanderous ascribing guilt to the innocent which is injustice, we also become guilty of hypocrisy at the same time.
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