What is your agenda? What assumptions do you make?

The Bible Study we are doing for Lent is about the mistakes that the disciples made.  Some of the mistakes are mistakes partly because of who Jesus is. I think that the first lesson on "Enough" was a mistake because of who Jesus is.  How were the disciples supposed to expect that the people following Jesus would be fed with 2 fish and 5 loaves?  

But today's lesson is about agendas.  This lesson is for everyone about all things.  In this case, the disciples don't like what Jesus says or does (like going into Jerusalem when the mobs want to kill him).  So they give Jesus an alternative, or tell him not to talk like that, or try something to change his mind.  Jesus tells them no and carries on with his agenda.

The lesson here for me is that we have to be aware of projecting our agenda on others and be aware when others are projecting their agendas on us. I believe this is true when reading the newspaper, an article in a magazine or watching the news. Everyone has an agenda, even if they do not know it.  An agenda might include getting others to see our point of view.  The agenda might be an attempt to get others to do what we want them to do. 

Several years ago I went for some training that included an exercise I hope I never forget.  There was a short article about some people talking and playing cards in a break room at work.  The exercise started with us reading the story then putting the story out of sight and answering some questions.  The questions included things like what kind of cards they were playing, whether they were playing during work hours or break time, whether they were interrupted by the boss or someone else.  It is amazing how much we each assumed was in the story that was not actually there.  There were some arguments during the exercise, until the story was revealed again.  The name of card game was never mentioned. (Several people insisted that they were playing euchre.) The person who interrupted was not the boss but someone who was mocking the boss.  The exercise was an amazing demonstration how we assume things all the time based on our own agendas while we don't know we are doing it. 

So when you read a story, or hear a news report, or a bit of gossip, watch for agendas.  Watch for your own assumptions.  Listen for the angle someone is taking.  We all do it all the time. (or is that an assumption?)  We hear what we want to hear.  We tell what we want to tell the way we want to tell it.  Sometimes we are trying to set the agenda which may or may not be God's agenda. It is probably impossible not to make assumptions and push our agendas.  But it is imperative that we are aware when we and others are doing it.  Watch for words that lead to one conclusion over another ("The fugitive fled the scene" means something different from the "The POW ran for his life" but could reflect the exact same incident.)

Dear Father, thank You for words and agendas.  Help us to always look for Your agenda and to push for Your agenda in and around us.  Amen.