Skip to main content

Insults And Offenses

             Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult. (Proverbs 12:16) 

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11)

 One of the challenges in the book I’m looking through is to act as Jesus would act if He were in our shoes. Among the many things listed is a suggestion that we use those times in which we feel attacked to pray for more attachment to God, and less dependence on the reactions and opinions of others. I have to admit, this is hard.

It depends in part on who is doing the insulting or offending. I expect this sort of thing from those who hate me. What tends to bother me more is when someone whose opinion matters to me, and who supposedly cares about me thinks it acceptable, or even necessary, to get in those little digs. You know the sort, something that makes you the butt of their jokes, something designed to show others that you’re not quite acceptable. Oh, they mean well. It’s either to get you to not take yourself so seriously or to make sure you don’t get too big for your britches. It’s when they can’t be bothered to laugh with you, but they certainly laugh at you and expect you to laugh along.

Part of the reason I’m talking so much about the insults and offenses that we’re supposed to overlook is the fact that they are insults and offenses. They do hurt. They are death by a thousand cuts instead of a stab into an artery, but they can grow infected.

So, what does “overlook” mean? Thinking about it, perhaps the most useful idea is that it means that the offense doesn’t block your view of the person involved. Another is that it is a high place from which one can see the whole picture. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more