Have you noticed how many serious mistakes are made today simply because of people’s presumptions? Thousands of women and children have died over the years in wars being fought as a result of presumptions and false accusations made by leaders of nations. We like to presume those in positions of authority and responsibility are responsible, but sadly many times they prove us wrong. Many of us have made presumptions when signing contracts presuming the other party would live up to their end of the bargain and were wrong. Many have presumed the gun wasn’t loaded and were wrong.
More people are doing “thorough” background checks before hiring or allowing people to rent homes to live in. They say it is “for the tenants”. They want them to “feel safe”. It should be that easy for the prospective tenant to check up on them. That is what more of us who are truly honest are learning, and it would make us feel more safe. My son was recently tested on his job by some teenagers who tried to buy cigarettes from him at the store where he works. They said, “Congratulations, you’re not fired”, and gave him $25.00. The point is, they found him to be dependable (even though he has been with them four years and has always been dependable), because they tried and tested him. They didn’t want to presume over something they deemed so desperately important.
My question for everybody is this: why aren't more of us that careful about the salvation of our souls? Most of us prefer to presume everything we decide for ourselves and for everybody else is right, and never bother to look at what God says about it in His Word. 1 Thess. 5:21 says, “Test all things; hold fast what is good”. Nothing is more important than your own soul. Never presume when it comes to matters of faith. In Lev. 10:1-3, two priests of God tried to offer worship to Him other than what He had specified they were to do. In the preceding verses in Lev. 9, it tells how God was pleased with their worship because it was done the way He commanded: in the “prescribed manner” {Lev. 9:6, 7, 10, 16, 23, 24}. Then, in the very next verses in Lev. 10:1-3, it tells how they tried to offer their own kind of worship that He hadn’t commanded. God killed them for their vain worship. They presumed He would be pleased, and were wrong. Never presume when it comes to matters of faith. These matters are too important. Rom. 1:16, 17 tells us the gospel is God’s power to save us. It says that His righteousness is revealed in the Bible, and that is what is required for our salvation. Our own righteousness can never save us. So you see, it can never be a good idea to presume we are right when it comes to matters of faith. Read what Jesus says about it in Matt. 7:21-27. In those verses He describes the difference between those who will be saved by His righteousness, and those who have been trying to be saved by their own ideas of righteousness (self-righteousness). We have to ask God the Father, and let Him answer us in His Word, the Bible, and obey what He tells us. That is what we do when we believe. Instead of presuming, we let Him tell us in the Bible how to be saved from our sin, how to worship Him, and how to live our lives here.
Timothy Sundlie - Evangelist for the La Crosse church of Christ