Monday; August 31

Have you ever been watching one of those nature shows and heard the announcer explain why a critter did what they did?  It may have been explaining why a mother alligator traversed the South Florida swamps to find her young or why the Carpenter Ants built their structure where they did … but in many of those shows the commentator (and/or the writers) applied logic to nature.  Here is my question – how do they know why they did what they did?  Did they ask them?  Was there a poll taken?  The truth of the matter is that observers make their best guess as to why something was done.

Now, the reason I bring this up is to consider something similar when we view human nature.  We are good about watching people, which tends to lead us to making assumptions about why they did what they did.  Now, there are times when we ask them to explain their actions, but how many more times do we just assume we know why they did what they did?  In essence, we assign our reason to their decisions.  While this might make logical sense to us, is it accurate?  If someone gives us their logic, that’s one thing, but if we assume, that’s a whole different ballgame. 

Let’s be careful not to assign our logic to someone else’s actions.  Remember what Jesus taught us, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2).

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; October 14

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop”?  I think a lot of us grew up with this adage and were taught the value of work and community involvement.  If we were doing something productive, we would get into less trouble.  Interestingly, this wasn’t something that just came from the previous generation, it has its roots in a thought process years ago.  In fact, when the early Christian writers considered how to help widows of their day, they cautioned against just letting them grow old and bored.  The Apostle Paul warned, “At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.” (I Timothy 5:13).  While this particular warning comes from a specific era and situation, I think the overall caution is valid.  I have learned that when I don’t have much going on, I become less d...
Read more

Friday; October 31

This is big weekend for many of us.   First, tonight many people will be participating in Halloween activities.   If this is something you do, please be careful and wise.   Watch out for yourselves as well as for your children.   Yet, there is something else happening this weekend – we get to turn our clocks back an hour tomorrow night (or I guess you could get up at 2:00 a.m. and change your clocks if you don’t have anything better to do).   There has been a lot of debate about why we change time – and if we should do it anymore – but, at least for most of us, we’ll do it at least one more time.   The questions about gaining and losing an hour have been increasing over the years and I don’t know how much longer we’ll find value in it; however, there is another question that I think is more pressing.   What are we doing with the days we have been given?   Eventually, the hour we “lose” in the spring, we will regain in the autumn, but the days we...
Read more

Friday; September 12

Through the years I have preached a lot of “bear one another burdens”.   This phrase from Galatians 6:2 has been a launching pad for a lot of my sermons and lessons.   Now, before I move on, let me make it plain that I am still a big believer in this admonition; however, I have learned something along the way.   Often, to be able to help people we need to communicate with them.   When we see people struggling, we have to be willing to ask them what’s going on – and then listen to them.   If we wonder why people have changed, we need to ask them and patiently await their honest response.   Often, helping comes by beginning an investigation and often requires listening to commentary.   There have been times in my life when I have shied away from this pursuit of truth, but I am trying to learn that with genuine care for others difficult discussions don’t have to be that tough. The other day I found another passage about helping others, “Now we who are s...
Read more