1 THESSALONIANS 3:1-5 – Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.”

It is never good and almost always lacks elements of truth. Yes, sometimes we may get one or two right, but regardless, it is a dangerous and loveless thing to do–make assumptions about people, and for the Christian, making spiritual assumptions about people’s spiritual lives. Allow me to provide two reasons why we are to make no assumptions.

First, assumptions reveal our lack of involvement in people’s lives which is a contradiction to Biblical Christianity. And a lack of involvement leading to making assumptions is based on observations at a distance. What I mean by “observations at a distance” is we really don’t know what is happening in the lives of those we are assuming upon, and since assumptions lack proof, we do the loveless act of “filling in the blanks” with our assumptions of what we think is going on which likely is not what is truly going on. Check out today’s scripture. The Apostle Paul makes no assumptions about the spiritual condition of the Thessalonian believers. Though he couldn’t go to them himself, he sent Timothy to get involved in their lives, preventing Paul from making ill-informed spiritual assumptions about them.

Another reason to make no assumptions about people is because it puts us in the roles reserved for God alone–Judge and Reader of hearts. There is One Judge and that is the Lord Jesus. To make any type of assumptions on someone is to become a reader of hearts which God is the only One qualified and able to do so. In a real sense, to make assumptions, or judgments, we are acting more like Pharisees than Christians. Yes, I understand we are to judge people by the fruit in and from their lives, but that is not the act of making assumptions. Assumptions judge hearts, motives, and the inner being of a person. So, when tempted to assume something about someone, especially spiritual conditions, remember these words of the Apostle Paul – For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Romans7:14-15). He didn’t even know himself let alone someone else!

Assumptions. Guard against them. They are loveless. They show a lack of involvement in people’s lives, and if allowed, will make us critical toward people–the very opposite of how the Lord Jesus sees people.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me for making uninformed and uninvolved assumptions about other believers.”
QUOTE: “Assumptions are based on little or no truth and easily become loveless judgments.”

Because of Him,
Pastor Jim