During a recent interview, actor Clarke Peters recalled his first impressions of the late Chadwick Boseman when they worked together on the 2020 war movie Da 5 Bloods. Boseman’s fame had exploded after 2018’s Black Panther, and as Peters tells it, he thought Boseman was a “little bit precious” on the set of Bloods.
Boseman, Peters said, was surrounded by people “fawning over him.” Boseman had a “Chinese practitioner massaging his back when he walked off the set, a makeup lady massaging his feet, and a girlfriend holding his hand.” To Peters, it seemed that Boseman had let “the Black Panther thing go to his head.”
But then Boseman died in August after a private battle with colon cancer. Now Peters sees it differently. Rather than judging Boseman harshly, he’s impressed that Boseman could carry on with the hard work of filming given the struggles with his health. “We were in 104-degree weather, running with equipment up to 40 pounds on our backs, going through these scenes and that young man…” he said, before breaking down in tears in the interview.
It’s a gift everyone can give, and almost no one does. The benefit of the doubt, that is. Not rushing to judgement, not jumping to conclusions, but assuming the best instead of the worst. It’ll save some embarrassment and may even save a relationship.
And in 2020, wouldn’t it be nice if we gave each other a bit of slack? We’re fussing in our churches over something as mundane as whether we should be wearing masks. Some are no-maskers, and some are always-maskers. Maybe you are a no-masker who thinks the always-maskers are bowing like minions to Babylon. Or maybe you’re an always-masker who thinks the no-maskers are flirting with the zombie apocalypse.
If you are a no-masker, why not just respect the always-maskers? They probably have a reason. And if you are an always-masker, keep in mind that the no-masker is a sibling in Christ and just ask for some space. I bet they’ll give it to you.
And then there’s the election. Who will usher in Armageddon, Trump or Biden? Hard to say, but it’s a sure bet that nearly every Christian has an opinion.
See, this is precisely why we are explicitly, definitively, and unequivocally required to “love one another” the same way Jesus loves us (John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:11). When Jesus said that Christians should “love one another,” you probably thought that He meant you had to be nice to your sibling in Christ when they jumped into the best parking space at Wal-Mart just as you were pulling in, or when you disagreed on the color of the new carpet for the youth room at church. True. But could it be that He had a pretty good idea what 2020 would be like for us?
There are few times that loving one another could be more starkly relevant than in our hate-filled, angry culture. Imagine the impact it would have on the people around you when they see that Christians who can disagree over masks or politics can still love one another and serve alongside one another for the common cause of Christ. If there is ever a time the world needs to see us doing this one thing Christ called us to do, it’s now.
So how do we get there? One step is to give your sibling in Christ the benefit of the doubt. In biblical terminology, it is similar to showing mercy toward your sibling in Christ and it happens when we assume the best instead of the worst.
How do you do that?
The apostle Paul addressed this more than once, but Romans 14 stands out as a detailed teaching on why it matters that we give one another the benefit of the doubt and how to do it. Here’s some pointers:
- Remember to keep the main thing the main thing (Rom. 14:1-2).
When we argue about non-essentials, we take peripheral issues and make them central. That is a tendency of our sinful nature, to treat something that is temporal as if it is of eternal significance.
When we do that, we forget to focus on what matters most in our Christian walk. God calls us to be the Church, to serve the community, and to reach the lost, and the conditions of the culture do not change our priorities. He never once tells us He will be pleased if we win an argument with our siblings in Christ. So, here’s the thing—ten years from now, which will matter most, whether or not you won an argument over masks, or whether you demonstrated the love of Christ during the pandemic?
- Remember that God alone has the authority to judge people (Rom. 14:10-12).
Judging people by outward appearance is always condemned in the Bible because, as far as God is concerned, character matters more than outward appearances (1 Sam. 16:7). So when we base our opinion of a person on his or her outward appearance, then we are refusing to accept God’s clearest commands about how to treat other people (John 7:24). This, by the way, is the genesis of sins such as racism.
And only God is qualified to judge the motives and the hearts of people (Ps. 75:7, Eccl. 3:17). Trying to take His place just proves we’re not qualified for the job.
But be careful. Judging someone’s character by their outward appearance is not the same thing as judging sin. The first is being judgmental. The second is exercising sound judgment. The Bible clearly advocates wise judgment in making personal decisions (Eph. 5:15) and even in recognizing sin in others (Matt. 18:15-17). But we are instructed to do so lovingly and with the goal of helping someone grow and improve (Gal. 6:1, Eph. 4:15).
On occasion Jesus was the object of judgmental scrutiny based on outward appearance, and He addressed it directly, contrasting being judgmental with exercising wise judgement: “Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
- Remember to help each other grow in Christ (Rom. 14:13).
Foremost, we share a common faith in Christ. Each of us comes to Christ a sinner in need of His redemption. So no one has bragging rights (Eph. 2:8-9). We are on equal footing.
This humbling truth requires that we show one another mercy, which means we also help each other grow in grace. We are in this journey together.
And when we focus on the outward appearance of other people, we tend to worry more about our own outward appearance as well. So, we overlook what God wants to change in us. We fall into another sin, of assuming that God cares more about our outward actions than our inward selves (Matt. 7:1-3, 23:28).
If we are loving one another, we promote peace and work for God’s greater good (Rom. 14:19-20). Our goal is to build up one another, not tear each other down.
So, when we navigate gathering again during this pandemic, and the never-maskers come in alongside the always-maskers, and when we head toward the polls in November, rather than argue or jump to conclusions, let’s remember this one thing, “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).
By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:35