That hurts

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV)

It’s natural to make assumptions about people. Sadly, what we tend to assume is often negative. Personally, I have seen how very easy it is to do this, and I often pray that God will stop me at the first thought of any kind of critical or self-righteous feelings toward others. We all know that it’s wrong according to Scripture for us to think this way about others. It doesn’t reflect how Jesus is. Even if these perceptions are technically accurate, they may be uncharitable or shallow, and probably don’t take into account all the factors behind why a person acts or responds in certain ways.

We can all recall times when our words were judged wrongly or unfairly by others, or our actions were misinterpreted and our sincere efforts were rejected out of suspicion or preconceived attitudes. That hurts. It can be very discouraging. Since we know how that feels, perhaps we need to look at others and realize that they could be feeling the same way, and if so, we have an opportunity to help alleviate their pain.

So I started trying to change this negative habit into a positive one of asking for God’s mind on the situation. He reminds me to play a sort of game, the Compassion Game, of thinking about possible scenarios or reasons why what looks negative to me might actually be someone’s cry for help. [1]

The foolish person thinks foolishly and takes everything in the wrong way, whereas the person who has good thoughts, no matter what he sees, no matter what you tell him, maintains a positive and good thought. - St. Paisios of Mt. Athos

[1] Activated The Compassion Game