Do we really know someone’s motives & intentions?

One of the consequences of the erosion of trust in others in contemporary society is the tendency to think the worst of their acts and intentions, making unfounded assumptions about their motives and rushing to quick judgement. This inevitably leads to suspicion and conflict.

We see this in the way that we are quick to judge and condemn politicians and leaders, celebrities or others in the public eye. Sadly it is also a danger within the church, amongst the Christian community. We are quick to make judgements about the motives of others, assuming them to be bad. We might, for example, ascribe bad motives to those who are starting a new church in a area where we think there is already a gospel church; or to those who are taking a different view about how to respond to theological compromise in a denomination; or towards organisations that we assume are perpetrating a cover-up of abuse because we have heard that allegations have been made, even though we don’t know all the circumstances. We might flounder in our pastoral counselling of others because we leap in, confident that we know what they are doing and why. For example, we assume that we can see the sin beneath their sin.

I have recently been reading Joshua, and Joshua 22 is a sobering warning against the danger of making assumptions about the intentions and motives of others. The main message of Joshua is that God keeps His promises to His people. He enables them to take possession of the Promised Land and then grants them rest. However, at the end of the book, after a long period of war against their enemies, war almost breaks out between the Israelite tribes.