Matthew 7:1 – Do not judge, or you too will be judged. (NIV)

One of my worst faults is "assuming". How easy it is, when one thinks one has all the facts. What I need is discernment, which God can give.

There was a wonderful hardware store in the place where I lived a few years back. It had everything in it, and it was right across the street from my employment. Every month or two, I would go there to buy a mousetrap. The salesman naturally assumed that I was overrun with mice. The facts would seem to bear this out, perhaps?

One day he suggested that I try a 4-banger. This is my name for the mousetrap with four traps on one base.

He was quite amused when I explained that I didn't have mice; I had a teenage daughter with long hair. The spring in her curling iron never lasted as long as the iron itself. With a little modification, the spring from the mousetrap worked. It was definitely less expensive to buy a mousetrap than a new curling iron.

How easy it is for us to guess another's reasons for doing something. We need to be very careful and to seek God's help to look beyond what appears to be obvious.

Philippians 1:10 – So that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. (NIV)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are so imperfect, yet we judge others easily. Please help us to use love as a discerning factor before we assume that we know another's problems. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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About the author:

Shirley Dobie <sherl@telus.net>
Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada
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