Tag: omniscient

Thinking the Best Instead of Assuming the Worst

Carl Pollard

Have you ever waved at someone you know and they didn’t wave back? What conclusion did you jump to? Probably something like, they’re upset with me. We do that all the time. We see a look, hear a tone, notice a decision, and instantly attach meaning to it. We don’t just observe what someone does, we assign motives. Then we start treating those motives like facts.

That’s dangerous, because most relationship damage doesn’t come from what people actually do. It comes from what we decide they meant.

Jesus said in John 7:24, “Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” He didn’t remove judgment altogether. He corrected it. There’s a right way to evaluate and a wrong way. Assuming motives we don’t know falls into the wrong category.

In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel saw Eliab and immediately thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” Eliab looked the part. He seemed strong, impressive, kingly. But God said, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Samuel almost chose the wrong man because he based his conclusion on what he could see. We do the same thing! We speak confidently about hearts God hasn’t revealed. When we claim to know motives, we step into territory that belongs to God alone.

It gets worse. Once we assume the worst, we start building a case in our minds. In Mark 2, when Jesus forgave a man’s sins, the scribes immediately concluded He was blaspheming. They didn’t ask questions. They didn’t investigate. They decided. That still happens today. One action becomes a pattern. One moment becomes a label. We create a version of someone in our minds that isn’t even real.

And a lot of times, we’re not reading people accurately at all. We’re reading them through our own wounds, insecurities, and past experiences. Joseph’s brothers did this in Genesis 50. Even after Joseph had forgiven them, they assumed he’d finally take revenge. Their guilt shaped their interpretation.

That kind of thinking hurts the church. Colossians 3:13 says we’re to bear with one another and forgive one another. Love gives space. Love shows patience. Love doesn’t default to suspicion. First Corinthians 13:7 says love “believes all things” and “hopes all things.” That doesn’t mean love is naive. It means love won’t rush to the worst conclusion.

Before you decide what someone meant, pause. Ask, Do I know this, or am I assuming? God knows the worst about us and still offers grace. We ought to show that same grace to others.

Paul’s Portrait Of God For Timothy

Neal Pollard

Devoting himself to a theme of godliness in writing his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul writes to encourage him to teach godliness to people who enjoy financial prosperity (1 Tim. 6:3-10, 17-19). Part of his instruction is to point rich Christians (the case can easily be made that American Christians qualify as this in nearly all instances and many preachers in foreign lands on U.S. support do, too, among their fellow natives) to where the truest treasures lay. Along with encouraging righteous behavior, Paul points to God. He gives life to all things (13). Paul also points to Christ Jesus, who is faithful (14) and who is coming again (14) to give “life indeed” in “the future” (19). Certainly, as Christ is divine, this picture describes Him, though it is obvious this is a portrait of God. He depicts God as:

  • Privileged—“Blessed” (15)
  • Particular—“Only” (15); “Alone” (16)
  • Predominant—“Sovereign” (15)
  • Preeminent—“King of kings and Lord of lords” (15); “Whom no man has seen or can see” (16)
  • Possessor—“Possesses immortality” (16)
  • Phenomenal—“Dwells in unapproachable light” (16)
  • Praiseworthy—“To Him be honor and eternal dominion!” (16)

Why would Paul remind a preacher (or have a preacher remind Christians) about who God is? As we see in the second letter to this young man, motivation is vital! What keeps me serving God when life is difficult? When the world around me ignores Him, mocks Him, rebels against Him, blasphemes Him, and dismisses Him, I need to serve and glorify Him. What will help me do that? I need to see Him for what He truly is! So Paul pulls out a series of superlatives to drive home the point, “How great is our God!” 

In a world full of ungodliness, of “worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’” (20), we must be on “guard.” Nothing clarifies the task better than intently focusing on the nature of God. He provides (1:4), He is (1:17), He saves (2:4; 4:10), He is one (2:5), He lives and rules (3:15;4:10), He created (4:3-4), and He sees (5:21). What motivation!

p46

God Knows Where They Are

 

Neal Pollard

At a preachers’ meeting I attended today, a brother led us in prayer specifically about the men, women, and children who were onboard the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 as well as their families.  While there have certainly been many other prayers for these folks, this brother said something that should have struck me before today.  He prayed, “God, we know that you already know exactly where they are, but please help those searching for them to find them.”  Has that thought truly struck us?  Our omniscient God knows the precise point on this globe where those 239 passengers are.  If we let that sink in, it reminds us of a much further-reaching point.  God knows everything about everyone of us, where we go and what we do.

Scripture teaches this many times over, in both testaments.  2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth.  “He sees all the sons of men…all the inhabitants of the earth” (Ps. 33:13-14).  “His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men” (Ps. 11:4). Hebrews 4:13 affirms that “there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”  The mysteries of the ages that have long confounded our greatest minds could not be more plainly known to Him.  Whether or not the massive coordinated efforts of nations, militaries, technology, and resources solve this enigma is yet to be seen, but God knows the answer to this as readily as He does the greatest conundrums with which man has ever been confronted.

One day, God will cleave the skies and bring all unsolved mysteries to an end, with every secret, cloak and dagger, and clandestine activity which may have perplexed men for centuries.  He will bring these secrets into the judgment (Rom. 2:16).  While there is so much that we may not know, let us rest assured that we stand beneath the gaze of the All-Seeing eyes of God.