Cookie Thieves

She bought a magazine and a small pack of cookies and sat at a crowded airport lunch counter. 

To her disbelief, the man next to her opened her package of cookies and ate one!

Indignant, she shoved the remaining cookies into her purse, got up, and left. 

When she looked back, she couldn't believe the man was actually smiling!

Thirty minutes later when her plane took off, she reached into her purse for the cookies, proud of how restrained she'd been with the cookie thief. 

But instead of one package of cookies, she found two identical packages, one opened and one unopened. 

To her horror she realized she'd just stolen cookies from the smiling man at the counter. He was the one who'd shown incredible restraint, not her. 

This story illustrates a good point: Jumping to conclusions is foolish. We need to get our facts straight before judging ourselves or others.

Many relationship problems stem from misunderstandings and hasty conclusions.

"The one who gives an answer before he listens-- this is foolishness and disgrace for him." Proverbs 18:13


"The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him."  Proverbs 18:17

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I heard this story years ago and I'm not sure of the source or whether it actually happened, but it's a great illustration for our need to be careful about judging people or situations. This is especially true when we come across a website or video that criticizes Christian authors or speakers. If we aren't sure of our facts, we can be guilty of slander.