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Once someone was talking with me about how important it was to preserve trees. He said how people were being very short-sighted when they cut down trees for money or convenience, without realising what the long-term consequences could be for generations down the line. I agreed that this needed to be brought to the attention of everyone so that we could all act more responsibly. But I also pointed out that some activists who were agitating for the preservation of trees did not seem to mind that some people were even getting killed due to clashes resulting from that agitation. He had not thought of that. It suddenly occurred to him that effectively, to some of those activists their agenda had become more important than human life. They had not factored in that aspect when they organised their protests.

In another case, someone gets agitated about some wrong thing that is being done in a church and revolts. He thinks what he has is righteous indignation and thinks that raising that point is needed even if that was going to divide the church or bring dishonour to the name of Christ.

What is common in these cases is that people are not looking at all the different factors together. They get excited about one particular thing and that becomes a most serious issue in their mind. In the heat of the moment, they assume that nothing else deserves consideration at this point and are willing to become martyrs for it.

But we know that life has many sides to it. Getting to be able to have a broader outlook and to look at situations with all the different aspects together is to grow in maturity. Think of what happened between Paul and Barnabas when they were comparatively young regarding John Mark, a cousin of Barnabas, who had deserted them in the middle of their first missionary trip. Paul may have thought they should not trust him again so soon, while Barnabas may have thought that everyone needs to be given a second chance. Apparently each stood with his viewpoint, and was not able to consider that the other too had a valid point. Finally they parted ways and possibly this resulted in some loss for God's kingdom who had planned for both of them to work together as a team.

"The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him" (Pr.18:17). We can apply this piece of wisdom to another situation where we are convinced about a certain position we take, without having considered other possibilities. We can judge other people wrongly based on our own assumptions without really understanding what the others actually meant or intended.

This teaches us the great need for humility to admit to ourselves that we don't know everything. When it comes to other people, let us recognise that we need to first understand where they are coming from and to avoid jumping to conclusions. How humiliating it is to realise afterwards that what seemed to be so right to us was totally misplaced! Let us keep learning and growing.

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