Don’t Jump to Conclusions

I was going with my wife to a doctor’s appointment. It was to examine the knee, so shorts were worn. It was cool but not freezing. As we entered the medical facility, a woman that was walking out looked with disgust on her face and made it clear that wearing shorts in that weather was unacceptable. I almost wanted to say, can you pull your jeans up above your knees? Obviously, that would not have been a good response. The thing is, especially at a medical facility, there are many reasons why people might be wearing shorts. Maybe they were in too much pain to put pants on. Maybe they had something on the leg that needed to be examined. Maybe the skin was super sensitive from shingles or some other dermatological irritation. To me, it is similar to questioning someone who has a handicapped parking sticker but no visible physical scars. Someone might tire quickly, have muscle issues, or a disease that makes long walks impossible. We need to spend less time trying to judge people or make ourselves appear to be more righteous, and more time actually befriending and treating them with compassion. If they are handicapped in some way, we can offer assistance. If we do find out they're using someone else’s parking sticker, we can explain how that might make it harder for someone with real medical issues. We read in James 1:19-21, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” Even though this is addressed to a specific situation, I feel that compassion should be a large part of who we are. We have probably all been guilty on multiple situations of jumping to conclusions. We might question why someone is speeding, not wearing what we would like to see others in, or maybe why they seem distracted or lacking in social graces. We might want to ask ourselves why this really matters. Luther talked about this in the meaning to the eighth commandment on not giving false testimony. “We should fear and love God, that we do not falsely deceive, betray, or slander our neighbor, or give him a bad reputation; but defend him, speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.” Lord, help us to seek to understand the people that we meet and minister to them with compassion and Your truth. Amen