Perception Does Not Equal Reality

 

How many times has someone said something to you like, "You know, she’s not a very friendly person"? I find her to be rather cold." Now, that’s someone else’s perception of a certain person that they are freely inflicting on others. When you hear that kind of comment, what does it do to your mind? You store it away and it starts to influence your opinion of that person.

 

When you see that person identified as "unfriendly" the first thing you think about is what you heard from someone else, and—subconsciously or consciously—you look for signs of unfriendliness. So, without knowing it, that person has been set up for failure, and chances are, if he or she looks the wrong way at you, you’re going to come to the same conclusion: This is an unfriendly person.

 

Proverbs 18:2 says, "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions." How often we listen to or spread these kinds of opinions, without any desire to know the truth or have any real understanding of the person or the situation. We’re easily influenced and quite ready to air our own opinion, without a lot of concern for its accuracy.

 

Friends, I think we all do this far too often, and we inflict so much harm and spread so many unkind and unnecessary opinions about others in this way. And sadly, I see it being done among Christians almost as much as non-Christians. We tear each other apart bit by bit, spreading our opinions and impressions around as though they were the final word.

 

When someone tells you something negative about another person, first of all try to change the subject or steer the conversation in another direction. And then ask yourself right away, "Are they telling me the absolute facts, or are they simply spreading around their impressions and perceptions about this person?" Don’t allow yourself to be influenced by other people’s negative perceptions. They may be totally inaccurate.

 

Say to yourself, "I don’t know this to be true about that person. I have no first-hand knowledge of this. Therefore, I will not allow someone else’s impressions and perceptions to cause me to think poorly of this person. I will forget I ever heard this remark, put it out of my mind, and allow that person the benefit of the doubt."

 

We need to keep remembering that perceptions often do not equal reality.