The story is told of a lady who walked into a pharmacy and asked the pharmacist if he had a cure for the hiccups. The pharmacist said, “I sure do,” and immediately and unexpectedly yelled, “boo!” at the top of his lungs. Well, this nearly scared the lady half to death! She looked at the pharmacist and asked, “Why in the world did you do that?” The pharmacist said, “Because a good scare will rid a person of hiccups.” The lady then said, “But I don’t have the hiccups. My husband does, and he’s out in the car!”
Oops! Now, there’s an illustration of how we can get in trouble by making assumptions. Assumptions can be costly. However, the greatest cost regarding assumptions occurs in the spiritual realm. How many people assume they are believing and practicing the things that please God while having no certain knowledge that they are? How many people believe things they have never read and studied for themselves?
We need to stop trusting in our feelings (Jeremiah 17:9). We need to stop using our favorite preachers as authority for what is right or wrong (1 Kings 13:18). We need to stop looking at what others are doing and deciding on that basis that it must be fine (Exodus 23:2). Instead, we need to ask, “What do the Scriptures say?” (Romans 4:3). We need to obey Paul’s instruction and “prove all things and hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). We need to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10) and we cannot do that while leaning on assumptions.
Our world is filled with people who pledge allegiance to Jesus but are assuming that their religious practices are acceptable to him. Many will stand before God and have to explain why they did things God did not command, nor did they come into his heart (Jeremiah 7:31). It is a sobering thought to think of the number of people who may someday stand before God and offer as their only excuse, “But I thought…”
by Steve Higginbotham