ASSUMPTIONS

Reading: I Samuel 16:7

Last weekend as we readied to leave for the Navajo Reservation, our VBS Team received word that we had no linens at the college where were staying.  This was just a few hours before departure, so Dianne and I rounded up all the towels we could locate, washed them, and packed them in a large suitcase. Since we knew that people’s luggage was already packed and probably tightly, we planned on checking that extra bag and taking it with us on the plane.  Fortunately, others brought towels and we packed all we needed into the suitcases. We were able to avoid paying another baggage charge.  But since the bus was arriving, we stuck the suitcase in a classroom.

En route Dianne received a cell phone call from a well-meaning Good Samaritan.  “Pastor Steve left his luggage. What do we need to do?” Di reassured her that we didn’t need it.  Then later on Sunday, Maria was talking to someone at home who said it had been announced in church that “Pastor Steve left his clothes in Landisville.”  She assured them that I had not. I was not walking around naked or anything.

I called Pastor Barry the next morning and indicated that was a piece of misinformation.  He said, “Oh!  I guess nobody looked inside the bag. They just assumed.”  (Of course, they assumed and then repeated their assumption.)  I said, “Well you know what they say about people who make assumptions.  They make ---- out of themselves.” (I let him fill in the blanks.) We had a good laugh.

I learned early in ministry that assumptions can be very dangerous, even hurtful—especially the assumptions people make about other people.  We see someone who looks differently from us. They sport a nose ring or ear ring and we would never pierce anything.  They are old and wear a frown and we are young and bubbly.  They have long hair or it’s a pony tail and our hair management is impeccable (or very retro).  They are Catholic and we are Protestant.  Their kids seem out of control and when we were parents we kept ours on a leash.

The worst part about assumptions is that they deal only with the surface. Or they reflect a pre-judgment about their values that seems to give us permission to devalue them in some way.  Or they create an excuse for us to stand at a distance and inspect them instead or engaging them and learning the truth.

The Word says two things that should convict those of us who make assumptions of the basic sinfulness of our behavior.

Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.” – Acts 10:34

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." – I Samuel 16:7

People who make assumptions usually make ----- out of themselves. They rarely do the work of the Lord.

© 2011 by Stephen L Dunn