Perspective

Last Sunday in my message, I stated that we often judge, grumble and complain about one another when we don’t have all the facts, or can’t see things from another’s perspective. I urged us to take the time to ask questions of one another, instead of rushing to quick judgments. 

This reminds me of a recent driving incident.

Driving to an appointment, I approached a busy intersection with a police car at the side of the road. Its lights were flashing. It was behind another vehicle. All the traffic merged slowly into the left lane to give the police officer space. The car in front of me inched slowly into the intersection but the light turned red. Not wanting to proceed through the intersection on red, the car backed up slowly in front of me, but it was still blocking the intersection. The cars who had been stopped at the light moved around him. They had seen the police car and presumably had grace for the whole situation because they saw what was happening. 
 
After several cars drove past this car blocking the intersection, one car approached very quickly, whose driver clearly did not see what had led up to this car being stopped in the intersection. Most likely he didn’t even see the police car because of his speed. As he went around the blocking car, the death stare he gave that motorist clearly indicated how peeved he was that he was being delayed for 2 seconds. 

HE DIDN'T HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION, SO HE RUSHED TO JUDGMENT! He hadn’t seen the police car. He didn’t see a motorist who was concerned for the police officer’s safety and was being courteous and law abiding. He saw a car in an intersection and judged them as somehow incompetent.
 
He had made a judgement but didn’t have all the facts.

We often do the same. 

Father, help us to be gracious to one another. Help us to understand each other and even when we don’t, to still give people the benefit of the doubt, as we would want people to give us. 

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18