I Assume...

I have had numerous conversations in which I try not to push my agenda.  I even try to be sensitive to the thought that I may be pushing an agenda unsuspectingly, incoherently, or unintentionally.  It isn’t just with matters of faith, but I have noticed that there is a tender spot in topics of faith.  If the topic of politics comes up, it is assumed that I am a die-hard Republican because of my religious views.  This is untrue.  An assumption was made based on what some would call evidence, and then a deduction based on man’s logic. 

This is where we get our famous quote about making assumptions.

I often have assumptions made about me, some true, some not.  Some assumptions make me look better than I am, I like those assumptions, and in fact…maybe I don’t correct people on those assumptions.  Some are assumptions that make me look worse than I actually am, I don’t like those assumptions, I am usually quick to squelch those if I can.  

I do this because I am human. 

Assumptions can be tricky.

Pre-conceived notions can taint assumptions as well.  If I have a pre-conceived notion that people cannot be trusted, I may make the assumption that you are a shady person and I wouldn’t let you borrow my car, for example.

I have some of my “Not trying to push an agenda” conversations with some friends and hear comments out of the blue like, “Well you are assuming there is a God.”  Are you assuming there isn’t one?  We both are assuming.  Aren’t we?

People make assumptions based on what their logic tells them about the situation.  Assumptions based on human logic often make the old adage ring true, for you and me.  Assumptions based on past physical experience can even be contaminated.  So I began to wonder and thing, are assumptions based on Spiritual experience actually faith?  “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things assumed?  Would that be accurate?

I can honestly say, I am still feeling my through this, but I began to think about this.  

Is assuming, in the spiritual sense, based on unseen evidence?  A spiritual logic if you will?  And if we know that the flesh wars against the spirit and vice versa, was does that mean about spiritual assumptions, God led of course through His Spirit?  

I often have read, and refer to, Hebrews 11 and the accounts that are listed there.  They make no human sense.   Human logic is lost on those matters.  Many human assumptions were made in those accounts and they were all wrong.  However, of those heroes and heroines mentioned in that chapter, they made assumptions too, sometimes begrudgingly, but they did.  The difference is that their assumptions were that God would be faithful to carry out what He told them to do.  They believed His grace would carry them through to where He had called them.  They made an assumption based on spiritual logic, led by God. 

Assuming in the flesh, the adage rings true…assuming in the Spirit, the adage is false.

Do I assume there is a God?  You bet.  I see the evidence of His existence all around me.  If I base my ideas that there is a God, and what I know of Him on my human logic the concept of there being a God is too big.  The truth of what he has done, will do, and is continually doing is more than my finite mind can wrap around.  However, if I assume what I read in His Word, hear from his Spirit, and learn about God is true beyond what I can understand fully…that is faith.  

By the world’s standards, “you and me”, we might not look so well.  However, the important matter is how we look to God.  Let’s assume He is bigger than we can imagine and does things far greater than we can explain.  Let’s assume He has everything under control.  Let’s assume He is who He says He is, and not try to limit Him down to what we understand because we are afraid if we can’t understand Him…we can’t explain Him.  Who wants to serve a God they can fully understand?  Our God is too great for that limitation.