Assuming the Best in People

This past week, I had a series of meetings out of town. They were kind of tightly orchestrated by me and I felt like a ping-pong ball bouncing between one meeting and another. The second meeting was at a coffee shop with a potential business partnership for our company. It was with a person I had never met but had just corresponded with via e-mail. I got there and waited, and waited, and waited. I called and left multiple voice mails as well as sent an e-mail. Nothing! I knew his office was right down the road so I knew it couldn't be traffic. I was even more irritated because now I had to drive to the other side of town to make the next appointment.

Amazing what goes through your head. Anger is mostly what went through my head. I was stood up! I wanted so much to fire off an e-mail (a standard non-personal way of venting) and spew venom on him. In a complete act of grace, the Holy Spirit nudged me not to do that. What if something happened to him or his family? Give him the benefit of the doubt. The Lord brought to mind a story I heard from Patrick Morley. A man was traveling in a train and his kids were running around like crazy. One of the passengers observed this and so wanted to confront the man over the unruly behavior of his children. He asked him why his kids had so much energy. The man somberly looked up and said "Yes I guess they are running off steam but their mom passed away today". I took it to heart and so I waited.

The next day, I got the explanation. He was in the emergency room for 11 hours with potentially serious issues. I said "thank you Lord" because He held me back from my proclivity to assume the worst in people. Why do we assume the worst in people? Some people think we have to to protect ourselves because after all it is a dog-eat-dog world out there. If you don't you will get taken advantage of. That could happen, but to me the alternative is far worse. To live a life in constant suspicion has wear and tear on the human psyche. Assuming the best in people will get you let down from time to time, but overall the impact is far more positive.

I am so glad I let that situation explain itself. Even if the man had legitimately blown the meeting off, I am better off for not sounding off in anger. Bitterness of soul keeps us from healthy relationships  with God and our neighbors. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that if you call someone "Raca" which in our vernacular is something like "stupid idiot", you are guilty of the Supreme Court and anyone you says "you fool" is guilty of fiery hell (Matthew 5:22-23). We need supernatural authority and power to prevent us from going off on people and I am so glad God save me in that way this week.