The Heart We Don't Know

He was known to only a few and even to them, not well. He was apart from his family, but not completely estranged. His brother was shocked as shown in the video. He was not associated with any extremist organizations. He was by all accounts well off financially. He had a girlfriend but even she was shocked. Yet, Stephen Paddock meticulously planned and carried out a mission of mass execution of strangers.

My wife during the course of coordinating meets a person for the first time and literally only a few minutes later says calls her a liar, says she is getting bad vibes from her, and questions her faith. My wife, who does not have a mean bone in her body, was devastated. There is not a person on this earth who knows my wonderful wife better than I do and I cannot imagine more undeserved comments.

We see in these situations two opposite situations. The first is not suspecting the monster within and the second is making instant conclusions about people we hardly know. As humans, we love to sit in judgment, but most times we get it wrong either way. The human heart is amazingly complex and underneath it all no one can understand it. To quote my favorite poet Shrek "ogres are like onions" meaning they are complicated. Jesus (a little better source) said that he could never require man's testimony "because He knew what was in the heart of man" (John 2:25).

In the course of every day dealings, I constantly have to remind myself of this truth. Most times I have no idea what is going on in the hearts of minds of people. When I want to pre-judge people I hardly know, I have to stop and try to see them as God sees them. I have to take the high road which is what Deb took with her false accuser. She instantly apologized for offending the woman even though she knew she had done nothing wrong.

What about overt wickedness like in Las Vegas? It should remind us of the depravity in each of us. But it should also spur us to the good that is in us. The stories of heroism, of the many who donated blood, of those who supported the grief of others, and so on.