Suspicion, by leafhopper77 – Creative Commons

Today’s post is from my new book Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus).

Last Saturday we posted Chapter 5: Love God First.

Love Like Jesus is due to be published in January of 2020. If you’re interested in serving on the launch team, send me an email at kurt@kurtbennettbooks.com.

Chapter 6 — Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved Judas To The Very End

Don’t Mess With Me

When I was new to the position of Captain, there was this older more senior firefighter named Frank on the same shift. Frank hadn’t made Captain yet, and he liked to take shots at me. I handled it either by ignoring him or by taking his digs good-naturedly. Until one day, a well-meaning supervisor shared that he was concerned I didn’t realize this older firefighter was putting me down.

That well-intended comment made a mess of my perceptions.

Instead of giving Frank the benefit of the doubt, I began to read things into every word, every facial expression. And that happened not just with Frank, but with several other fire department members as well. “If I didn’t realize Frank had it in for me, who else might be harboring hostility?” I thought to myself. For the next few years after my supervisor’s comment, my relationship with Frank (and a few others) was damaged.

How Jesus Loved People – Jesus and Judas

I’ve noticed in Jesus’ relationships with his disciples, he always assumed the best in others. He always gave the benefit of the doubt. He always trusted. Peter could be a blunderer and a stumbler, yet Jesus seemed to trust him anyway. When the Pharisees asked Peter if he and his master paid the temple tax, Peter had no idea what the answer to that question was – but he answered anyway, incorrectly. Jesus responded to the situation with grace that amazes me. And after this little incident, and a few other gaffes by Peter, Jesus continued to trust him, even giving him the responsibility to feed his sheep. (Matthew 17:24-27 and John 21:15-17)

Even more amazing is how Jesus treated Judas. Even though Jesus knew all along that Judas would betray him:

So genuine and complete was Jesus’ love for Judas that none of the disciples could tell which of them was Jesus’ betrayer.

After washing Judas’s feet and the rest of his disciples’ feet, Jesus told them his betrayer was at the last supper, “. . . they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.” Sometimes I wonder what Judas was thinking and feeling toward Jesus in those days and weeks before he did what he did. But regardless of what Judas was thinking and feeling, we see that Jesus loved him, even to the very end. (Luke 22:23, Matthew 26:50)

Imaginings

Do you know someone who you suspect has bad feelings toward you? Do you ever imagine what’s going on inside that person’s head?

In Genesis chapter twelve we see Abraham imagining what’s going on inside the head of Pharaoh and the Egyptian leadership. In this story we see Abraham, the father of faith, speculating that Pharaoh and other Egyptians had bad intentions, intentions of killing Abraham and taking Sarah, Abraham’s wife, because she was so beautiful.

So Abraham concocts this plan based on his imaginings, to save his own skin: The plan is for he and Sarah to lie to Pharaoh, and tell him Sarah is Abraham’s sister.

Now Pharaoh, thinking Sarah is available, takes her into his palace. But just as soon as that happens, before Pharaoh has a chance to physically touch Sarah, the Lord afflicts Pharaoh and his family with disease. Then Pharaoh finds out Abraham lied, and he calls Abraham into the palace and lambastes him for it. In the end, Abraham and his household are kicked out of Egypt.

So here’s something to consider: How much better off would Abraham have been if he gave Pharaoh the benefit of the doubt? For one thing, he wouldn’t have sinned by lying. Our imaginations about what others are thinking are very often the root cause of our sins. Abraham imagined the Egyptians would kill him and take his wife. A man imagines his co-worker will throw him under the bus to advance his career. A woman imagines her husband’s mother thinks she’s not good enough for her son.

Imaginings.

These imaginings result in all kinds of destructive thinking and behavior. And here’s a surprising element of this dynamic: Imaginings such as these result in destructive thinking and behavior even when they’re accurate. Even if Abraham was correct in his assumption that the Egyptians would attempt to kill him and take Sarah, that wouldn’t have changed the fact that Abraham put his wife Sarah in an unthinkably vulnerable position. Whether his imaginings were accurate or not, Abraham would have been better off honoring God by telling the truth. If Abraham’s imaginings were accurate, would not God have intervened and rescued Abraham, the father of faith, and his wife Sarah anyway?

Watch and see. In your life, and in the lives of others, where there are assumptions and imaginings about what people are thinking and feeling, you’ll see love quenched, squashed, and extinguished. When she’s sure her close friend is trying to put her down because she’s jealous. When he thinks he has insight that his boss is giving him a garbage assignment to marginalize him. When she just knows her husband doesn’t like her dress. The love God desires us to show these people becomes smothered in our thoughts and imaginings about the possible ill will those others may be feeling.

And think this through with me: If my assumption is wrong, and there is no ill will, then I’m outside of God’s will by not loving that person. Because Jesus told us to “love our neighbor.” (Matthew 22:37-40) He told us to “love one another.” (John 13:34)

If my assumption is right, and there is ill will, then I’m still outside of God’s will by not loving that person. Because Jesus told us, “Love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27-35)

So give people the benefit of the doubt. Assume the best in others through their good behavior and their bad, and watch what happens to your ability to love like Jesus. I think you’ll find you will experience the following four changes in your relationships if you become intentional about assuming the best in others:

1. You’ll find them drawing a little closer to you. It’s natural for people to become defensive when they sense that you’re harboring suspicions. By assuming the best in a person you’ll become more approachable.
2. You’ll draw out the best in that person. The famous German writer Johann Goethe once said, “Treat a man as he appears to be and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.” By assuming the best in a person, you’ll give them something to live up to.
3. You’ll experience an increased level of joy. If you want to live your life in an emotional basement, play the “what if” game. That’s what we’re doing when we make assumptions about what others are thinking. “What if he’s thinking this about me?” or “What if she’s feeling that about me?” Conversely, when we assume the best in people our minds are focused according to the instruction of God’s word in Philippians 4:8: . . . whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. The result is a happier, more peaceful, more joyful outlook. Who doesn’t want that?
4. You provide an example. A final blessing that comes from assuming the best in people can be the spread of the practice of assuming the best. Who knows, that person you’re interacting with may be inspired to assume the best in the people they encounter. That’s the spread of God’s grace. That’s multiplying fruit for God’s kingdom.

Love Like Jesus

In the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, we’re told, love always trusts. And we see how Jesus loved like that, even when he knew about Peter’s faults and mistakes, even when he knew about Judas’ bad intentions. (1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV)

So to love like Jesus, assume the best in people, give them the benefit of the doubt, trust them. I can’t tell you how much better off I would have been had I assumed the best in Frank, the older firefighter who liked to mess with me. When I love people, even people who are perhaps unworthy of trust, I’m the one who benefits the most.

If you’re a person who desires to love like Jesus, if you’re a person who desires to reflect the nature of Jesus, trust people, give them the benefit of the doubt, assume the best in them.

That’s how Jesus loved people.

That’s how you can love like Jesus.

Notes:

Image of Suspicion by leafhopper77 – Creative Commons

Love Like Jesus by Kurt Bennett, now available on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others.

Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon.)