Assumptions

John  7:40-44 (NKJV)  When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

In the text above, the folks in the crowd didn’t know Jesus was born in Bethlehem (in Judea and not Galilee), and they didn’t ask.  They wrongly assumed something that changed their entire view of Jesus. Do we do that?

Christians, like all human beings, can be misled by assumptions.  Last Christmas I provided a Christmas Bible Quiz on this blog to show some of the things many of us believe but just aren’t so or have no support. We do this more than we might think: assume something is true because we’ve heard it so often.  How many wise men where there who came to see the infant Jesus?  We don’t know because the Bible doesn’t tell us.  We assume there were three because the Bible says there were three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  How many more things have we assumed? Assumptions can be misleading.

Some of these assumptions are fairly harmless like those in the Bible quiz, but some are very damaging.  The assumption we must work hard to gain God’s approval or that God simply will never love me because I mess up all the time.  Those, too, are unscriptural.  True, doing things to please God is important but He does not stop loving us because we didn’t do something or did something poorly or even wrong.  God looks at our hearts:

1 Sam. 16:7 (NKJV) But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Our work for God is always expected.  He has given us jobs to do the primary one is to live and share the Gospel.  The other things we do are things we should do to please Him.  I’ve shared this passage a few times here because it speaks so well to this point:

Luke 17:7-10 (NKJV)  ⁷ And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸ But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. ¹⁰ So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”

The things we do for God are expected because we do them out of love for Him, and we are His fellow workers. 

Another assumption is God is waiting for us to step out of line so He can discipline us.  I assumed this for much of my early Christian life.  Of course, this assumes our God is an angry God, a vengeful God looking to strike out in His anger.  God may discipline us but always to teach us something, not to punish or hurt us.  His children are so special to Him He considers the things which happen to us as if they happened to Him.  Look at how He spoke to Saul on the road to Damascus:

Acts 26:14 (ESV)  And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

Jesus so identifies with His children, He saw Saul’s attacks on the church as attacking Him personally.

Why is this important?

I’ve tried to describe grace here a number of times over the years and have always fallen short.  The faulty assumptions listed above are all based on a misunderstanding of Grace.  God’s love for us is infinite.  He is there cheering us on when we stand up for Him and there to comfort us when we fail.  Being a child of God is a bigger thing, a more special thing, than we can ever imagine.

There is a God who created all things, who balances all things, maintains all things in this universe.  That God will give His attention to us whenever we ask.

It’s like we are children walking into a boardroom while God is holding an important conference with the hosts of heaven.  When He sees us enter, He holds up His hand to stop the meeting and lets them wait until we have talked with Him. That is how important you are to Him.

Our assumptions about our loving God are much too small, much too shallow, and very often totally wrong.