Pastor Ponderings #190: Suspicious Minds

Have you ever been convinced of someone’s wrong-doing only to discover you were the wrong-doer? Did you ever suspect someone of a crime they didn’t commit? There are many ways in which we can inadvertently be caught up in the crosshairs of someone’s offense. It probably happens more often than we ever become aware of. A suspicious mind can take you farther than you planned to go and cost you more than you expected to pay and keep you longer than you planned to stay. When your mind gets suspicious, examine yourself first as the primary suspect.

It is as if the devil hears a whistle rising in the distance in tandem with our suspicions. As its conductor, he calls out, “All aboard the blame train!”. The train begins short, but it isn’t long before he offers to add the cars of anger, bitterness, offense, shame, revenge, distress or disgust. It really is surprising how many cars the engine can pull without ever appearing to be burdened like the passengers it carries.

There is something viral about suspicion. Once caught, almost anything can feed the infection. A wrong look, a passing comment, a careless gesture, one’s presence here or absence there can all be reinterpreted to reinforce a growing suspicion. Add to this a sudden clarity of all the past situations that fit into place like a jigsaw puzzle and soon you’ve built an edifice of accusation to make the devil proud. It is vile and evil, like the devil who rejoices in it. It is a sickness that can become all-consuming if not attended to.

How is it attended to? How does one disembark from this train of blame? There seems to be no station in sight, and the locomotive is picking up steam. I’m afraid a risk of personal injury is the only way off. One must jump off the train. Resolving the conflict in your mind and heart is God’s desire.

Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

This could be accomplished simply by approaching the suspected party and making inquiry about the issue. Not in anger or with an accusatory tone, but in humility and sincerity. If suspicions prove to be true, one may begin the process of resolution. This may not be easy, but it may prove less painful than the alternative.

If the suspected party is not guilty, you may have unwittingly laid the track for a whole new train to be set in motion. Its proud conductor is giddy at the prospect of rolling some coal and causing offense at your expense. The wrongly suspected feels like the wrongly accused. There is a difference and this becomes the first car on their train to nowhere. Inquiring to learn if someone suspected is guilty is not the same as accusing someone of being guilty. Offense for even suspecting them is another injury sustained from your jump off the blame train.

One can see how offense for being offended or suspicion of one’s suspicions could lead to a never-ending cycle of despair. There is a remedy prescribed in the following verse:

Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Forgiveness prevents all injuries because it is the only way to ensure the train never leaves the station. Jesus has pulled up the track of our offenses at the cross. This is a route no longer to be travelled by believers. You and I may exercise the same forgiving power to dismantle the tracks of suspicion and derail the devil’s ill intentions. We would all benefit from engaging a forgiving mind in exchange for our suspicious minds.