Day 169: The Naive Trust – The Wise Test
Proverbs 18:17
In a lawsuit, the first to speak seems right until someone comes forward and cross-examines.
Principle
When I was young and naive, I trusted people; when I matured and gained wisdom, I tested people.
There’s an old show that ran for 9 years back in the early 1960s called Perry Mason. Each episode depicted a defense attorney, Perry Mason used his skills as a cross-examiner to turn the tables on a witness during the trial. He was so convinced that the witness would confess his guilt openly in the court – thus freeing the innocent and condemning the guilty.
When we hear a story, we should be careful and not jump to conclusions until we test the account with other factors.
Not long ago, an old acquaintance approached me and asked to speak with me privately. As we stepped aside to have our conversation, he looked me in the eyes and confessed, “I made a horrible mistake by prejudging you. Someone had said something to me and painted a picture about you that I believed. They did so for their own advantage. I was wrong. Please forgive me.”
I knew the situation that he was confessing. Interestingly enough, the lie that he believed didn’t affect me as much as it affected him. He was the one who suffered a loss in this situation.
A few years ago, another situation arose in which a good friend and a man that I had admired, even had worked for, was told an untruth about me that he jumped to the conclusion without asking me about it. It severed our relationship. He has yet to ask me anything about it – he believed a lie.
Believing a lie is a dangerous thing that can lead a person to become delusional in their thoughts. Once you believe a lie, other lies become much easier to accept, and your thinking becomes darkened.
Let’s be wise and cross-examine a story to discover the truth.
Remember:
When I was young and naive I trusted people; when I matured and gained wisdom, I tested people. Click To Tweet
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