First Contact

Proverbs 14:15

There is one characteristic that I personally have had to learn over the years. I have had to learn to be less trusting of what people tell me. That’s right, less trusting. I have had to learn that people are sinful and that lying comes too easily, and often with no consequences. But since I am a Jesus-follower, shouldn’t I be more loving and accepting of other people? I can be loving and accepting, AND still not give them my credit card number!

We need to be more deliberate about making decisions. We should consider carefully the available options. We are allowed to point out lies and half-truths. We have permission to not believe! Doubt is a healthy thing.

The simple, those who don’t know the LORD, run head-long into trouble. Some of that trouble is other people’s, and some of it the simple bring on themselves. It pays to learn to deliberate decisions.

On the other hand, some people take so long to make decisions that they are immobilized. This is often driven by fear of failure or fear of the unknown. We can’t wait for 100% decisions. There is always more information that could be brought to bear on any decision. If we keep waiting for that last bit of information, our decisions won’t get made.

This issue in our proverb is about timing. The simple act too quickly, believing the first thing that comes their direction. The prudent think before they act. They don’t need all the facts, but they do need more than the first round of facts.

One of the rules of military planning is that plans change after the first battle. No plan survives throughout the whole campaign. The military constantly evaluates new information and changes plans. It never has 100% information when decisions are made.

As Believers, we need to gather information and make decisions. We don’t need to be frozen in fear. If we are trusting Christ and our decisions are made with that fact in mind, then we don’t need to fear. We can trust that He will be with us and carry us through the most difficult of circumstances.

Too Trusting

Proverbs 11:15

Some people are too trusting of others. We hear almost every day of another scam artist ripping off some elderly. Recently people are using Obamacare as the way into people’s private information. The scammer calls on the phone “signing people up” for the benefit. They collect the information and then the money just empties from bank accounts and investments.

Wisdom is slow to commit to money transfers. We need to know where our money is going, and know the people on the other end of the transaction.

Not too many of us give loans to strangers. We don’t vouch for the character of someone we have just met. We don’t enter into business with someone we meet on the internet. At least people with wisdom don’t.

When our livelihood is on the line, we need to be cautious. We should guard our private information. Our virus protection should be up to date. We need encryption software when we pass along personal information. We should never pass along credit card information unless we know the person on the other end, and it can be done securely.

We now know our emails are being scanned and collected. What we text message is not secure. Even our voice transmissions can be listened to by others.

We need to be careful. This does not mean that everyone can’t be trusted. Some people live in a world where they feel they can’t trust anyone. That is a tough world to navigate through. We need each other. We need to be able to trust some people. But we don’t need to trust everyone! Some people are out to “get you.”