Certainty

Life’s reality is that even with the best of intentions everyone has their “bad” moments.  We fail to realize the very things that we hold most precious.  Most of the time the failure isn’t intentional but it is factual.  Often the unintended outcome of a choice made in tiredness, stress, or carelessness is a compounding of the impact due our denial, blindness, or inability to understand and accept what just happened.
 
The issue of certainty is relevant to many because we presume to understand the motives of those around us.  Even if you have lived with others for years, are you absolutely sure you know what motivates?  If there is any possibility that the motive is different from appearances, does one presume love and mercy or self-centered justice?  Can the person be drawn to the side of community or are they doomed to the island of self? 
 
I have recently found myself wrestling with the heart of this question.  On the surface I am dealing with those with motives that are obvious, difficult, and challenging.  Several appear driven by a center that is foreign.  I find myself girding for battle, ready to consign each to a dark place, one by one.  As I position myself for the killing move I catch the lingering echo of a cry for help and wonder if my assumptions have and are correct.  What if there is still hope?  Could redemption be a possibility?  Is there a glimmer that knows and understands a new way of living and longs for that reality?
 
Even in Jesus day the question of certainty was on the table.  Several were convinced of a new reality.  Their words would come to haunt them but at the time they were quite sure of their positions.  “We've already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”  (John 6.69)
 
I find myself sitting in the bright sun of a new day.  Will I work to pull people towards this light or push them further into darkness?  God’s model says everyone, including you and I, is redeemable.