Jumping To Conclusions     John Henry

 

The Apostle Paul in talking about the duration and use of spiritual gifts said, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 13, true Christian love will not do some things. Some of those things he mentioned are: “thinks no evil” (13:5) and “believes all things” (13:7). Paul in not talking about being gullible or throwing wisdom out the window, rather, when there is no evidence to support otherwise, it believes the best about its fellowman.

 

Love refuses to yield to conclusions without sufficient evidence. Love does not jump to conclusions, but is careful in evaluating all the facts. Evil surmising, on the other hand, is something that is condemned by God (1 Tim. 6:4). This is when we throw love out the window and then proceed to find fault in others by guessing or inferring something without carefully and conclusively evaluating all the facts. Brethren, this ought not to so among God’s people. Now, let me relate a little story I heard and make a little application of it.

 

“There was a faithful dog, which was a constant companion of a small child. One day, both dog and child disappeared. A diligent search by parents, friends, neighbors, and law enforcement proved to be fruitless. The child could not be found.

After several hours the dog returned home, but he was covered with blood. Naturally, the father jumped to the conclusion that the dog had become vicious and killed the child. The dog must be destroyed, he thought, so he got his gun and immediately killed the dog.

 

A little later, the child was found in the woods unharmed. Not very far from the child there lie the body of a dead panther that the dog had killed in his struggle to protect the child.”

 

So often we are guilty of this very thing — conclusion jumping. We take action, or at least express our opinion before considering all the facts. The results are usually unpleasant and at the time irreparable damage is done.

 

So, be careful about what you think, say and do. You might just be guilty of shooting a brother or sister that ought to be praised!