It’s One’s Glory to Overlook

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

 

Today’s blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

Webster’s dictionary defines “offense” as annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one’s standards or principles.

Have you ever been offended?  I’m sure you have.  We all have.  But the key question is how you handle an offense.  Do you overlook offenses or do you stare straight at them until they become so large and magnified that you can’t see past them?

Sadly, for many, the latter is often the case.  How do I know?  Just look around.  Relationships are destroyed, friendships are severed, and churches are fractured because of the slightest of offenses.  We exact revenge against those that have offended us by withholding love and friendship.

As Christians, we often quote the verse “love covers a multitude of sins” in I Peter 4:8, but did you know that some bible translations replace the word sin with offense?  “Love covers a multitude of offenses.” 

Offenses are often personal and can hit us where it hurts – our ego!  We can overlook someone’s sins as long as they don’t touch us directly, but if that sin causes us to be offended, we judge the offender more severely.

But God doesn’t make any distinctions between the two.  Sins and offenses are interchangeable and both should be overlooked and covered with love.

Proverbs 19:11 says “it’s your glory” to over look an offense.  If I may quote Webster again, the word “glory” is defined as having “high renown or honor won by notable achievements” or “magnificence and great beauty.”

The ability to overlook an offense is beautiful to God and a notable achievement worthy of high honor in His eyes.