A guest pastor at our church used this illustration below to get his point through:
- A peach is sweet in the inside but very soft on the outside. It's easily bruised.
- A nut, on the other hand, has a hard shell and thick skin. They are insensitive; even if you can crack them, they are still hard on the inside. Commonly more men fall into this category than women.
- An orange is sweet in the inside yet the outer skin
is firm & flexible and not easily bruised.
As Christians, we ought to be like orange. "Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others." Ecclesiastes 7:21-22
We should not be easily offended. Instead, we ought to "practice the habit of overlooking offenses, take the high road, give the offender the benefit of the doubt, and move on. " Michael Hyatt said in his podcast titled: Why Effective Leaders Cannot Afford to Be Easily Offended.
Other good points that Michael mentioned:
- Offenses are inevitable.
- Offenses are usually unintentional.
- Offenses can be good for us.
- Being offended is a choice.
It has been months and I am still working on it. I have to remind myself over and over that being offended is a choice. In addition, I can also choose to understand, accept, and forgive others.
"A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense"
Proverbs 11: 12
You may also like:
Patient & Gentleness Series:
#1 Make Decision
#2 Heart Check Up
#3 Give Them Grace and Truth
#4 Death and Life are in the power of the tongue
#5 Ex-Squeeze Yourself
#6 Perspective
