Have you ever jumped to a conclusion? In the great children’s book, The Phantom Tollbooth, Milo and friends find they have done just that—but not only have they jumped to conclusions, but literally they have jumped to the Island of Conclusions.
“Nothing can possibly go wrong now,” cried the Humbug happily,
and as soon as he’d said it he leaped from the car, as if stuck by a pin,
and sailed all the way to the little island.
“And we’ll have plenty of time,” answered Tock, who hadn’t noticed
that the bug was missing—and he, too, suddenly leaped into the air and
disappeared.“It certainly couldn’t be a nicer day,” agreed Mile, who was too busy
looking at the road to see that the others had gone. And in a split second
he was gone also….”“…Now will you tell me where we are?” asked Tock as he
looked around the desolate island.
“To be sure,” said Canby; you’re on the Island of Conclusions.
Make yourself at home. You’re apt to be here for sometime.”“But how did we get here?” asked Milo, who was still a bit
puzzled by being there at all.“You jumped, of course,” explained Canby. “That’s the way most
everyone gets here. It’s really quite simple: every time you decide
something without having a good reason, you jump to Conclusions
whether you like it or not. It’s such an easy trip to make that I’ve been
here hundreds of times.”“…Well, I’m going to jump right back,” announced the Humbug….”
“…That won’t do at all,” scolded Canby…. You can never jump
away from Conclusions. Getting back is not so easy.”“…Is there even a boat?” asked Milo….”
“Oh no,” replied Canby shaking his head. “The only way back is to
swim, and that’s a very long and a very hard way”….”for you can swim all
day in the Sea of Knowledge….”*The Phantom Tollbooth, pages 165-169
The truth is—just like Chicken Little jumped to the conclusion that the sky was falling because an acorn had hit her on the head, we do the same thing all the time. Whether it’s that a good-looking guy must be nice and an ugly guy, mean, or as the commercial said, “Because it’s on the Internet it must be true,” we jump to believe. Don’t you just kick yourself when you have forwarded an email you thought to be true, and get a note from a well-meaning friend telling you that you should have checked it out on Snopes? It’s an “Oh Man, Forehead Slapping, Oh Agony-Groan Moment,” because you should have known better.
And yet, we jump to conclusions about ourselves all the time.
We think that to be accepted,
to be loved,
we need to look younger,
be better,
wrinkled less
and fat free.
And that’s Just Not True.
In Psalm 139: 14b, 17-18a:
“… I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;…”
We are so precious to the Lord. Let’s stop listening to the lies about ourselves and start telling ourselves what He says instead. Let’s agree today to stop jumping to the island of conclusions and start swimming in the knowledge of truth.
