IT’S AMAZING WHAT WE ASSUME

He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, is folly
Proverbs 18:13

I looked up the meaning of the word Assumption and discovered that it meant:

•  best guess
•  idea
•  belief
•  notion
•  theory
•  guess
•  hypothesis
•  supposition

This got me thinking about how, when meeting someone for the first time, we tend to make spot judgments and assumptions about the person without actually knowing anything about them. It is so easy to be taken in with appearances, mannerisms, and how they talk or react to you during your first encounter.
I was in a hardware shop the other day making a few purchases and the man who served me was covered in tattoos and body piercings and after commenting on them, he told me it was his aim to have a complete body wrap, which meant that he wanted his entire body tattooed. I replied that although I could appreciate the complexity of some of the designs, which were beautifully done with magnificent colours, it was something that I would never contemplate, to which he replied that the looks and comments he received on a daily basis were quite comical. It would appear that he loved anything and everything to do with Japanese culture, art and designs and that this was in actual fact, the very basis of each and every tattoo he had. He went on to tell me that he had taken his wife and two young children to the local swimming pool over the weekend and ended up with an entire corner of the poolside grass area to himself and the family because nobody wanted to sit anywhere near him!
I left the shop with my purchases realising that, had I not engaged him in conversation, I would have departed thinking that he was a very strange person and one I would not be inviting home for tea and biscuits. Instead I was amazed at how pleasant our brief encounter was. He was very nice, well spoken and obviously a well-educated chap and this got me thinking about how easy it is to become judge, jury and executioner within a matter of seconds and it is only by the Grace of God that we are, at times, pulled up sharply and become ashamed for having such an attitude. We automatically assume that we know better and that anyone who does not fit into our mould, is immediately suspect. Which reminds me of a short story I heard which illustrates just how sensitive this issue is:
There was once a lady who had purchased a packet of biscuits and sat down in the airport lounge to relax and read her newspaper whilst waiting for her flight to be called.
She heard a rustling noise and looked up to see a man beside her helping himself to the biscuits.
Not wanting to make a scene, she leaned over and took one herself, hoping that by her actions, the man would get the message.
Then she heard more rustling.
She could not believe it! The man was helping himself to another biscuit and as she watched out of the corner of her eye, he took yet another!
Looking down she noticed that there was only one left!
She watched in utter disbelief as he broke the last remaining biscuit in two and pushed one half across to her, whilst popping the other half into his mouth and then promptly stood up and left.
She was still furious as her flight was announced over the speaker system.
Can you begin to imagine how she felt when she opened her handbag to get her ticket out – and found her unopened packet of biscuits!

There are issues in this story which we need to address.

1. If we are being honest with ourselves, we all assumed that the man, the stranger, was helping himself to her biscuits.
2. We all assumed that the lady showed remarkable restraint in allowing him to take each biscuit without saying anything.
3. We all assumed that this was a display of Christian charity at its best.
4. We all assumed that he was somewhat ungrateful for not showing the slightest appreciation for her sharing her biscuits with him.

Now that we know the truth, perhaps we need to look at the issues from a different angle:

1. Consider what the stranger thought when the lady decided to help herself to his biscuits.
2. Consider his reaction to her down to the last remaining biscuit.
3. He broke it in two and shared it with her!
4. Do we still consider ourselves superior to others?
5. Are we not all guilty of making assumptions about people without knowing anything about them?
6. I think the answer to that question is: YES!