When you don’t know somebody, it’s easy to think the worst about them and assume their intentions are bad. It’s easy to have road rage when you don’t know that the person in the other car is going to lose their job if they’re late one more time, or they’re distracted because their father just died, or they’re rushing to the hospital because their child is sick.

It’s easy to assume someone showing up at the soup kitchen driving a Mercedes is selfish, greedy, and is basically stealing the food from people who actually need it. It’s so easy to consider them worthy of my disdain when I don’t know that they borrowed their employer’s car because they can’t afford the repairs to their car. Or they inherited this car from their mother who is in a care facility that they can’t afford.

It’s easy to hate someone when I make wild assumptions about their immigration status, or the reasons for their immigration status. There are so many ways and reasons to easily hate strangers because there are so many assumptions I can make about them.

When I do know someone — really know them intimately, like when they are family — it’s much harder to brush them off as no good. I am familiar with their struggles and their complicated situations. I understand the reasons for their choices. They really have to work hard for me to finally conclude that they are bad. My family and close friends get the benefit of the doubt that I rarely give strangers.

“Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.” (Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭10,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

God wants me to treat people I don’t know as if they were my family. He wants me to love them, assume the best about them, to give them the benefit of the doubt. Many times (70×7) if necessary.

As a follower of Jesus, fear-based assumptions should be squashed in favor of generosity, honor, and love.

Dear God, forgive me for automatically assuming the worst about people based on the little (mis)information I have about them. You know all the details of their lives, and you love them so I should too. Teach me to see people with your eyes and to love them instead of judging them.