Be wary of assumptions

The sinfulness and rebellion in the human heart should not surprise me, but sometimes I am surprised. I’m surprised when I resist God, and seems to forget what He has declared true about me. I am surprised when others who declare themselves followers of Christ on one hand, on the other will say “No” to His Word and do whatever they can do to get around the commands and instructions of Scripture.

I’ve two books on my desk, thick and heavy books, that respond to a type of Scripture interpretation that makes an assumption going in that skews everything that comes out. This error is evidence of rebellion against the teaching God gives about Himself, never mind rebellion against the distressing news His Word gives us about ourselves. This type of interpretation goes as far back as Eden where Satan disguised himself and said to Eve, “Did God really say that?”

I cannot decide what made Eve fall for it and doubt God. At that time, sin had not entered the world; she was innocent yet could be deceived, something like a little child is innocent and can be led astray. Now, after that happened sin is in the human heart. We can more easily be led from what God says about Himself into the error of following what we would like God to say, not only about Himself but about ourselves. This is a tragedy. Nonetheless, it happens to Christians. We can make assumptions about God and the Bible, and some of them are false.

For instance, if I assume God to be totally loving and accepting and never angry about sin, this will not only affect how I read the Bible (with blinders on), but how I behave. If I assume that God is angry with sinners all the time, I will read the Bible wearing the same blinders only with a different view of God and a corresponding different response to Him and His Word.

What is it about assumptions that makes them so dangerous? Aside from blinders, an assumption can be just one more expression of my sin nature that is determined to go its own way (Isaiah 53:6). I want something to be so; therefore, regardless of what God or anyone else says this is how I will see it. My assumption is stronger and more real, at least in my mind.

While daily devotions based on a verse or two can fuel a poor understanding because these verses are dropped on the page out of their context, sometimes focusing on one section at a time gives great clarity. I find that today with these verses:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

The Gospel as expressed here is a great leveler of those using different interpretations. Using words like “us” and “we” Paul never excludes anyone. All of us were dead in sin and even though not everyone has been made alive in Christ, all of those who are given new life are raised up in that life, spiritually seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, and will eventually experience the full riches of what our salvation gives us.

This is grace. We come in with our assumptions, prejudices, false ideas, and a heart full of “I will do this my way” yet in the end, He will bring us to a “together” experience that transcends our deadness. He will overcome every selfish notion and assumption Satan uses to pull and tug us from the truth that is in Christ.

Satan used assumptions and doubt to dupe Eve into taking that which was forbidden. That was thousands of years ago, but his methods haven’t changed a bit. However, because of His rich mercy and great love with which He loved us, Christ has defeated Satan. The enemy’s manipulation may work for a time, but his time is short, and the end of our struggles to understand is not in our struggling but in Jesus. The end of all assuming, Scripture twisting and manipulating is also in Jesus. It is as He said in John 8:31-32, 36, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . . Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

The key is abiding in His Word and letting Him break down our barricades of resistance and human reasoning. Eventually the power of the truth will free all of God’s people from Satan’s lies and our own susceptibility to fall for them.