Thursday; April 11

When we ask a question of someone we don’t necessarily get along with, what is our intent: are we hoping to learn something from them or are we trying to catch them doing or saying something foolish? I believe one of the reasons we have trouble having civil debates in our society is that we often go into them with ulterior motives. We don’t want to exchange information as much as we want to prove the other people wrong (or even stupid). While I am embarrassed by the way we treat each other, I have to admit that we aren’t the first society to deal with this. In fact, if we are the victims of this type of improperly motivated interaction, we are in good company because it happened to Jesus. Frankly, it happened to Him quite a bit. In one example of it, Matthew recalls, “Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.” (Matthew 22:15). Thankfully, Jesus was wise enough to know what was happening and how to handle it.

While we can’t always control what others do to us, we must make the choice to avoid trying to trap people into conversations against their will. Dialogue and debate can be healthy, but only when they are done with pure motives. Let’s engage others in discussions, not dupe them into an ambush!

Think About It!

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