How I Choose to Perceive People

2 Samuel 23:8

These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

David's last words was a compilation of a list of men whom he called his mighty men. These mighty men were likely the men who stood with him through thick and thin. It is interesting as David notes these mighty men that most of them only had one great mighty act they performed. When David listed these men, he talked about that one mighty act.

What is interesting to note is that David knew these men well. He likely knew their weaknesses as well as their strengths. David could have easily listed their weaknesses, but instead, he called these men his mighty men and talked about the strengths that he chose to remember them by. One of the great attributes of David was that he chose to remember people by the good they had done, rather than by their weaknesses.

One of the great sins of this generation is that many choose not to look at the mighty work of an individual, but instead focus on their weaknesses and judge them by that. You can always find someone's weakness, and you could probably find many weaknesses in those around you. However, would it not be much better to remember people for the mighty work that they did instead of the weaknesses that seemed to plague their lives? We are so prone to define people by their weaknesses, when the great king David chose to define people by their one act of greatness. Let me share a couple of thoughts about this important truth.

First, if you look for the weaknesses in man, you will be sure to find them. It does not take a good Christian to find weaknesses in other believers; it takes a good Christian to find the gold amongst their weaknesses. There are many people in my life whom I could dwell on their weaknesses, and it would destroy my perception of them. Think about those we look at in the Scriptures. We often think about them because of their weaknesses instead of dwelling on their strengths. Many sermons have been preached about Peter denying the Saviour, but very few sermons have been preached about the decades of faithfulness he had to the Saviour. Go ahead and dwell on the weaknesses of man, but you will pick people apart with this mentality and never have one person who can be an encouragement to you in your great time of need.

Second, if a person only has one great act in their life, choose to define them by that great act. Would it not be better to be a person who chooses to remember people for the good that they did instead of choosing to remember them for all their weaknesses that you dug out of their life? Instead of destroying people because they are sinners, let's remember them for the one great act God did through their lives.

Third, don't let one act of sin destroy the many good acts that a person has done. Be careful about throwing away all the good a person has done because they fell in sin. Yes, we can learn from someone's failure, but you will learn more by dwelling on the many good acts that God did through someone's life than you ever will by dwelling on their negatives. I would rather be a person who remembers the good of people than to be the Shimei who throws stones at others because they are sinners like myself.