The text message came out of the blue from someone who rarely contacts me.

The message was brief and made no sense to me.

It had no context to enlighten me, no background to guide me.

But I had a context to test it in. It seemed to plug in just fine. But that led me to wonder if the message had actually been sent to me by mistake, if it had actually been meant for someone else. So though the text plugged into my test context just fine, it left me feeling just otherwise. 😯

“Evil surmisings,” says 1 Timothy 6:4.

“Evil thoughts,” say Mark 7:21 and James 2:4.

“Thinketh no evil,” says 1 Corinthians 13:5.

“Think on these things,” says Philippians 4:8.

The rubber met the road and I didn’t do so well. 🙁

When I must jump to conclusions, I want to do better at defaulting toward picking a positive, light-lit landing spot.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

Oh, and about the mysterious text? My reply invited a clarification, which I received. It helped, at least somewhat. Alas, my test context is still viable and receptive.

What would you do?