You Can't Handle the Truth

I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now.  However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come.  John 16:12-13, Common English Bible

As I read this passage today, I was struck by the idea that sometimes it applies to us.

Have you ever been very convinced of how right you are and had a difficult time convincing someone else?  Have you ever encountered a stubbornly convinced person, who believed the same thing of themselves?  Have you ever been trying to convince someone of the righteousness of your opinion and not understood why they didn't see life your way?

Perhaps the phrase, "You can't handle it now" applies.  We can't understand it all right now.  Maybe the person didn't "get" it because he wasn't ready.  Maybe you (and I) were impossible to convince because we just weren't ready yet. 

If we can't know it all -- if there are times when we are not ready -- if there are times when someone else isn't ready yet, then perhaps for that reason alone we could suspend judgement.