Got Change?Sample

BELIEVING THE BEST IN PEOPLE

Have you noticed that we often believe the negative things we hear about people more readily than the positive? When that gossip or rumor reaches our ears, most of us just soak it in (Proverbs 18:8) and it causes an alteration in the way we view that person in the future.

While addressing the church community at Corinth, Paul encourages them to have genuine love and concern for one another, and teaches them what love is, and what it is not. One of the attributes of love is that it believes the best in someone. We often confuse this with being gullible or too trusting of people. The Bible tells us to be discerning too, not foolish, and the Holy Spirit helps us with that. It calls for us to be gentle and wise.

When we think of God and His love toward us, we can’t help but be humbled. If He can love us in spite of knowing our hidden thoughts and deeds; if He can always believe the best in us, even in our worst moments, then we can do the same, because we are equipped to love others with the love we receive from Him. It is with this love that never condemns, that He won us over, and He expects us to do the same with others.

Let us make an effort to grow in believing the best in people: To hold onto the good and be more forgiving of the bad: To see others the way God does and remind ourselves that we also fall short.

The CHALLENGE to Change:

Let us do what it takes to avoid gossip. Should some negative information about a person reach our ears, let us believe the best of that person till the information is proved false or true. If true, let us show grace.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help train your mind to be more believing of the good in people rather than the bad.