A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
“I’m glad they caught the man that murdered that insurance executive.” said a friend of mine recently. Another friend retorted, “Huh, sure they did. The guy that was killed was rich and famous. But if he’d been someone unimportant, the cops wouldn’t have bothered.”
With one hasty judgment, that friend denigrated thousands of honest, earnest police who risk their lives day after day to protect all of us, poor and rich. Sure, there are dishonest cops, just like there are dishonest stock brokers and store clerks. But we ought not to condemn all police because of a few rogues.
A woman who works for a physician recently complained, “Doctors are in it just for the money. They don’t care about people. They pay themselves ten times what they pay us poor clerks, but we’re the ones who make things happen.” By her careless statement that woman painted a guilty sign on the foreheads of thousands of honest, earnest physicians who spend years in school and thousands of dollars to get their education. At the end of the day the clerk can shut out her job and do what she’d like. Unlike her, a doctor
can’t count on a quiet night’s rest or a weekend without an emergency. Are some physicians too hungry for money? Yes, just like some plumbers and insurance agents are!
A church member came to me. “Mrs. Handford, I am so ashamed of you. A friend told me you took her weekly appointment with her hairdresser, and you made it so she has to go on a different day.” Stunned, I asked my hairdresser. She said, “Never. She’s never come
on Fridays.” I called the woman herself to ask her why she thought I’d taken her appointment. “Oh, I was just talking, and things just came out. You know how it is.” No, I didn’t know “how it is.” Because of her ungoverned tongue, I’d lost the respect of church members who have a right to expect their pastor’s wife to live honorably.
Perhaps that is what Jesus meant in Matthew 12:36 when He said: “For every idle word that men may speak,they shall give an account of it in the day of judgment.” Jesus is obviously not talking about the casual conversations we have with friends. Nor is He saying we ought not to hold people in responsible positions accountable. He is talking about unfair hasty judgments we too often make of others when we don’t know all the facts. Romans 14:4 (NIV) says,
“Who are you to judge another man’s servant?
To his own master he stands or falls.
And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Should we stand against crooked politicians and rogue police and anyone who takes advantage of vulnerable people? Absolutely. But let’s judge fairly. Let’s not condemn people simply because of the position they hold. And we ought to thank God for the multitudes of honest people in America who are trustworthy and who deserve our gratitude for their selfless, dependable service day after day, year after year.