Making Assumptions
Even though the gauge told me we were low on gasoline I drove past the filling station and aimed for one I knew was some distance up ahead. I assumed it would be open but it wasn’t. The consequence was obvious but not nearly as severe as the airplane that took off after refueling on the assumption that the attendant had done it correctly. As it turned out the number of gallons requested was given in liters, resulting in only about a quarter of what was needed. Many of us remember the amazingly spectacular emergency landing that the pilot accomplished at Gimley, MB without power. The consequences could have been death for all but no one died.
One of the more horrible accounts of bad assumptions relates to a couple leaving their infant in the care of a baby-sitter while on holidays. In itself that is fine but when the baby-sitter seemed to be a little late, they became impatient and decided to go, leaving the door unlocked on the assumption that the sitter would arrive soon. When the sitter came and gained no response to her knock on the door she assumed the people had changed their minds and went back home. The infant starved to death in the highchair. The consequences were severe.
In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus was being confronted by the crowds and the religious leaders. A controversy arose among them as to whether He might be the Messiah. One group based its conclusion on the fact that He came from Galilee and could not be the Messiah because that person was to be born in Bethlehem. They rejected Him on a false assumption. That had serious consequences.
There are many opinions circulating amongst us today about who Jesus really is. Is He just a myth, a legend? Was He a lunatic or a liar? Or was He really the Son of God coming with an amazing offer? The offer was: let me take the blame for your sin and I’ll give you my righteousness; let me pay your debt and you can have my bank account. Check it out. Don’t reject the offer on an assumption that there is nothing to it.
False assumptions won’t lead you to the sunny side,
Henry Wiebe