July 30
Ezra 5-6
Psalm 86:5-10
Proverbs 19:10-11
I Corinthians 8
Good Sense
“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11 ESV
I have thought and repeated this verse many times in the last couple of years. We live in a time when everyone is easily offended, and we have to walk around on eggshells for fear of hurting someone’s feelings or making someone mad. As believer’s we should not be this way. If you are looking for something to be upset about, you can surely find it. You can be a person who always assumes the worst from others. You can pick apart everything people say to you and assume they meant it negatively. You can be easily offended and easily angered. Or you can choose a different path. You can do what Proverbs 19:11 instructs us to do. This verse explains that good sense makes one slow to anger. Instead of making assumptions, we should take time to figure out the situation. Certainly, there are situations where the worst is true, the person did mean what they said negatively, or you are being treated badly because the person is racist or sexist or just a terrible person. But that is not always the case. If we make assumptions about what other people are thinking, we may be very wrong. And even if your assumption is true, this verse tells us that it is to our glory to overlook an offense. As Christians we are told to forgive others when they wrong us seven times seventy times. It does not say to forgive if they ask for forgiveness, to forgive if they deserve our forgiveness, or to forgive if they apologize. We are just told to forgive them, over and over and over. Whatever they do to us, we are to forgive them. We do not have to continually put ourselves in the situation to be hurt by them, but we do not have the luxury of holding a grudge or staying angry with them. We are to assume the best in people. We are to love people, even if they treat us bad. We are to treat others respectfully even if they don’t treat us that way. We live by a different standard than the world around us. We recognize that we have been forgiven much by our Heavenly Father. We do not deserve His love and mercy, but He freely gives it to us. Out of a grateful heart for all we have been given, we extend that grace and love to others. We can overlook the offenses done to us because God overlooks our offenses toward Him.
Being a person who is easily offended and angered also just makes you a miserable person. If you are always looking for something to be upset about, you are going to spend most of your time upset and unhappy. God knows that if we are focused on ourselves, we will always be discontented. Keeping our focus on Him allows us to rise above daily injustices and trust that He has our back and will take care of us. We don’t have to defend ourselves or avenge ourselves because we trust His sovereignty.
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