Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Doubts”
Our Bible verse for today: A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is his glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “It’s usually better to just let it go.”
Some people go through life looking for reasons to be offended. More than just being thin-skinned and therefore being easily offended, these folks seem to thrive on being offended and they look for it. Other people may not actually look for opportunities to be offended, but they sure are quick to take offense anyway.
Personally I believe that how easily a person is offended is a measure of their spiritual maturity. A spiritually mature person is thick-skinned and has the ability to simply shrug off offenses. The more easily offended a person is, the less spiritually mature they are.
But that’s not to suggest there aren’t things we should find offensive – there are; and there are times when offenses need to be addressed. I find foul language offensive, especially when someone uses the Lord’s name as a curse, and I will usually say something about it. So there are things we should be offended about and which we should speak up about. But more often than not, most things aren’t that important and therefore should simply be overlooked, at least for a while.
Sometimes offensive behavior persists and although it was appropriate to shrug it off for a while, eventually it has to be addressed. Doing so will sometimes take care of it, but not always.
I think of a situation in my own life that has been persisting for more than a decade. It involves an offensive attitude on the part of an individual that has been ongoing and which has been addressed with the person several times, but which seems to defy resolution. The principle taught in Proverbs 19:11 has been immensely helpful to me and it’s the reason the relationship has been able to last all these years despite the unresolved issue.
We do not have to put up with offensive behavior endlessly, but we should be very slow to take offense and we should shrug it off if we can. And if it’s a situation that does need to be dealt with, it should be done so in a way that honors God.
We need to know when to address an offense and when to let it go. If in doubt, most of the time the best response is to let it go.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 