Monday; July 1

How easy is it to give someone the benefit of the doubt? I am not a big advocate of bashing the 21st Century; but I do believe it used to be easier to give people the benefit of the doubt than it is today. Maybe it is because more people are getting caught doing things they shouldn’t be doing, but I believe it is easier to jump to conclusions than it used to be … and, coming from my background with Law Enforcement, I can find myself more easily swayed to the doubts of cynicism than a more healthy version – skepticism.

Now, before you read too much further, let me line out where I am going with this. No, I am not going to provide insight into being more judicious in our assessments; rather, I want to take a look at it from the position of how do we receive those benefits of the doubt. While the first way is to not put ourselves in a position of being viewed in a questionable light, another way is to build a track record of making good, healthy decisions. Years ago, when the church was being introduced into the world they were taught, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” (Philippians 2:14-16). In other words, we need to live so that if someone was to make an accusation about us, would people find it hard or easy to believe it – whether it was true or not.

Let’s show kindness when we talk about people; but let’s also lay the foundation for a solid defense against allegations when people talk about us. Sure, we may still have to defend ourselves, but a righteous lifestyle is always a good place to start.

Think About It!

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