What if we assume the best about people?
What if we assume the best about people?
I want to make a difference; for my life to matter. You understand that, for you probably want the same thing.
The Apostle Paul urges us in Ephesians 4 — I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel.
We are all walking down the road.
It makes sense that we’d be better companions, if we saw the best, instead of looking for the worse. I am not talking about the world at large right now, but the people right in front of us.
What if instead of assuming things about people, we remembered that we might be wrong?
We don’t know their story.
And what if we trusted that others might give us the same assumption, a free extension of grace?
For they don’t know our story either, not fully.
“I’m sure I am wrong about many things, although I’m not sure exactly which things I’m wrong about. I’m even sure I’m wrong about what I think I’m right about in at least some cases.”
― Brian D. McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy
How do we extend grace and assume the best?
What if….and we can choose this…what if we assumed the best about the people we meet? Our friends? Family?
If we refused to give voice to those ugly words like, “You know how THEY are” or “Who do they THINK they are?”.
I am walking, running, down the road God called me to travel.
When I see you on the path, know this—I am going to work hard to assume you are trying. Trying to learn and grow and offer yourself.
I’ll work hard to extend you grace. I hope you will do the same for me.
So, what IF we all started trying to assume the best about each other?
Humility is a powerful side effect of grace.
“For the believer, humility is honesty about one’s greatest flaws to a degree in which he is fearless about truly appearing less righteous than another.”
I have judged and been judged. Understood on my deepest levels, and tragically misunderstood on others. You have too. The good news is we can start right now. Changing how we see each other.
The news is saturated with the slinging of judgment and pompousness. What is one suggestion you think could help us view one another with thoughtfulness? Leave a comment and let’s dialogue.
