“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” (Proverbs 19:11)

Happy Friday everyone. You know, I came across this list of things that people get offended by and how they vary from country to country. For example, in Nigeria, if you were to make eye contact with a superior, well, that would cause great offense. If you fail to make eye contact in Canada, that is seen as offensive. If you’re standing too far apart while talking, Brazilians find that very offensive. If you fail to begin an email with a friendly greeting, well, Argentineans will not be very happy with that.

If you use your first name in an email greeting, well, in Slovakia, they would be offended. If you fail to respond to an email, British are really sensitive to that. If you ask why you didn’t respond to an email, well, the folks in Emirates, they won’t be happy with that. And I thought this one was great – if you engage in small talk in a business phone call, well, Germans get offended.

I’m sure there’s a lot of differences, even amongst the culture, but it’s interesting what we take offense to. How does the Bible say to handle offense? It’s interesting because we are encouraged to work to make sure that we don’t give offense, but we’re also encouraged not to take offense – something that is often overlooked in the scriptures.

But the encouragement that I want to share with you today comes from Proverbs 19:11. It says, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense”. You know, I’m not sure who you’re going to run into this weekend, but chances are, someone will say something that could cause you to be offended. It’s to your glory to overlook it, and to be slow to anger and be slow to take offense. Let’s practice that this weekend and see if we can make this world a better place through that. Let’s pray.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You very much for Your word. Your word guides us and gives us hope and gives us strength and direction. And Lord, it is so often that we can get easily offended by things, and sometimes there is a lot of hurt and a lot of division that comes from that. But You’ve given us in Your Word a challenge to overlook an offense, and that is something that can bring peace and healing. And we’re certainly grateful for Your instruction and pray that You would help us to live that out this weekend.

We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.