NEVER ASSUME

“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:24)

“Never assume.” If I had a dollar bill for every time I heard that phrase said by my father, I could probably retire! I hear it MOST often when I was learning to drive. Dad believed it was drivers who carelessly ASSUMED things that ended up getting KILLED. He DID have a valid frame of reference for this viewpoint. Dad investigated scores of fatal accidents during his career at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Last week, on the day the news broke about the horrific killings in Norway, Boston radio talk host Michael Graham confidently stated the investigation would show the killings were done by a radical Muslim. When a Muslim listener called in to challenge Graham, Michael offered the Muslim a bet. Graham was willing to put up $100. that he was right. The Muslim refused to take Michael Graham up on his offer, but if he had, he’d be $100. richer today. I admit I suspected a radical Muslim, too, BUT I also remembered what talk show host Howie Carr said the day of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, bombing in 1995. Carr said, “It was certainly done by a ‘towel head’.” Well, Howie had to eat his words.

Never assume.

I can’t even begin to tell you how MANY times I’ve assumed things about people and been TOTALLY WRONG about them. A few months ago, the first time I heard David Stein’s “Celebration of Life” program, I assumed David Stein was a liberal secular Jewish do-gooder. In fact, David Stein turned out ot be a “born-again Christian” with a life philosophy vert similar to my own! (In fact, he IS an ex-secular Jew.)

When friends presented “Melaleuca” to me in 1995, I eagerly enrolled. I love most of the products, and I was sure that when I told people I knew about Melaleuca, they’d sign right up. In fact, I was never able to sign anyone up for Melaleuca. They ASSUMED it was a lousy deal to get involved in, and that only saps signed up. I actually dropped out of Melaleuca just a year ago ONLY due to my serious drop in personal income. IN fact, Melaleuca is a good company and does not deserve the negative attitudes people express toward them.

One summer afternoon around five years ago, I pulled up to our church’s parking lot only to find that a paving company had parked all sorts of trucks and heavy equipment in our church lot. They were paving a driveway down the street. It bothered me that they’d just ASSUMED they could part there. I jotted down the telephone number which was displayed on their trucks. On their voice mail I stated that I’d wished they’d have ASKED before they parked all that equipment there. That night, I showed up for the church’s prayer meeting. I was surprised to find one strip of new asphalt on our lot just off the street. Shortly thereafter, the phone rang. It was the owner of the paving company.

“I put down a strip of asphalt over a rough portion of your parking lot and THIS IS THE THANKS I GET??!!” he yelled with a few profanities thrown in. I told him I did appreciate that he’d done that. I also pointed out that if they’d have made an attempt to contact us first, we’d probably have given permission to use the lot. I told him it bothered me they’d done that without asking first.

"You’re a PASTOR?! You COULDN’T have much of a following!!!” he yelled and hung up the phone.

Well, we’re supposed to follow GOD and not so much individual pastors, but honestly, his words still sting five years later. He made some assumptions about me and I made some assumptions about him. We were probably both wrong.

Honestly, I don’t understand why people frequently assume the very worst about me; and it bothers me- but HOW IRONIC that is because I DO THE SAME THING TOO OFTEN ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE! I can think of a lot of other examples of assuming. Yes, I assume too much, and I’m wrong; and others do the same thing to and about me. Why do we do this? In Acts 21:38, a Roman Centurion accused St. Paul of being an Egyptian who led 4000 murderers!

So for some reason I’m thinking about this today, and yes I’m assuming it may be helpful to you! Yes, Dad was right. Never assume!

Lord, how we need your help with this!