YouTube Channel Video Devo
“Assuming Can Bring Trouble”
James 1:19-20 NIV
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Last week in our apartment parking lot, there was a car that was parked crooked in a space. My wife and I reacted to that and shared with each other how dumb and disrespectful it was for someone to park that way so that no one could safely park beside them. As that night and the next day approached, the car was still there and we were tempted to leave a note on their car for them to please park respectfully. We just shook our heads and felt frustrated at someone else being inconsiderate of others in their parking.
I believe either later that day or the next evening, we saw a cop pull into the parking lot and some people getting out of another vehicle to meet up with the cop around that vehicle that had parked bad. We watched from the window and speculated what had happened and what was going on. My oldest said, “You guys watch too much of the COPS shows!” That was funny….and true! Something we forgot about was that there was a pile of broken glass down by the rear of the car.
All of a sudden, the lights on the badly parked car flashed and we realized that was their car and what actually had happened. Someone hit their car, left some glass shattered on the ground and then drove off. That had caused their car to slide over. After we realized this, I felt guilty. The whole time I was frustrated with these people, the whole scenario I had assumed was totally WRONG. It was a huge learning time for me as I remembered that we need to not assume things about situations we are not fully aware of. We just never really know what’s going on.
I share this to hopefully encourage all of us to give people the benefit of the doubt more often than we do. It’s not to say that situations are always different from what we think happened, but sometimes they are and it’s so easy to assume. God wants us to slow down, take a breather in life and look at things with a different perspective. We get so consumed with our lives that we easily assume things and see things from what we think is right. Often times, we can be so wrong, as I was. What if I had left a note for these people? I would have felt even worse knowing I had assumed and left a note.
Friends, let’s try to be better about jumping the gun in our assumptions and conclusions and be more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. We are all called to love people with Christ’s love, but when we come up with our own idea of why things are how they are, we can often be wrong. We need to try to be positive always and not assume people are always doing dumb things. It does happen, but not always. Let’s become slower to become angry and assume things. Let’s be quick to listening and be more understanding.
“Assuming Can Bring Trouble”
James 1:19-20 NIV
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Last week in our apartment parking lot, there was a car that was parked crooked in a space. My wife and I reacted to that and shared with each other how dumb and disrespectful it was for someone to park that way so that no one could safely park beside them. As that night and the next day approached, the car was still there and we were tempted to leave a note on their car for them to please park respectfully. We just shook our heads and felt frustrated at someone else being inconsiderate of others in their parking.
I believe either later that day or the next evening, we saw a cop pull into the parking lot and some people getting out of another vehicle to meet up with the cop around that vehicle that had parked bad. We watched from the window and speculated what had happened and what was going on. My oldest said, “You guys watch too much of the COPS shows!” That was funny….and true! Something we forgot about was that there was a pile of broken glass down by the rear of the car.
All of a sudden, the lights on the badly parked car flashed and we realized that was their car and what actually had happened. Someone hit their car, left some glass shattered on the ground and then drove off. That had caused their car to slide over. After we realized this, I felt guilty. The whole time I was frustrated with these people, the whole scenario I had assumed was totally WRONG. It was a huge learning time for me as I remembered that we need to not assume things about situations we are not fully aware of. We just never really know what’s going on.
I share this to hopefully encourage all of us to give people the benefit of the doubt more often than we do. It’s not to say that situations are always different from what we think happened, but sometimes they are and it’s so easy to assume. God wants us to slow down, take a breather in life and look at things with a different perspective. We get so consumed with our lives that we easily assume things and see things from what we think is right. Often times, we can be so wrong, as I was. What if I had left a note for these people? I would have felt even worse knowing I had assumed and left a note.
Friends, let’s try to be better about jumping the gun in our assumptions and conclusions and be more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. We are all called to love people with Christ’s love, but when we come up with our own idea of why things are how they are, we can often be wrong. We need to try to be positive always and not assume people are always doing dumb things. It does happen, but not always. Let’s become slower to become angry and assume things. Let’s be quick to listening and be more understanding.
