In 1860,
Thomas Inman recommended that his fellow doctors not prescribe a medicine for a
cure if they weren’t sure it would work. They were to give the patient “the
benefit of our doubts.” This phrase is also a legal term meaning that if a jury
has conflicting evidence that makes the jurors doubtful, they are to give the
verdict of “not guilty.”
Perhaps
as Christians, we can learn from and apply this medical and legal phrase to our
relationships. Better yet, we can learn from the Bible about giving the benefit
of the doubt to others. I Corinthias 13:7 says that love “bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Leon Morris, in the
Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, says this about the phrase “believes
all things”: “To see the best in others . . . . This does not mean that love is
gullible, but that it does not think the worst. It retains its faith. Love is
not deceived . . . but it is always ready to give the benefit of the doubt.”
When we
hear something negative about others or we’re suspicious about the motive for
their actions, let’s stop before we judge their intentions as wrong or bad.
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
