Monday, November 24 Overlook an offense.​—Prov. 19:11.

[Áine]

Monday, November 24

Overlook an offense.—Prov. 19:11.

 

Imagine that you are at a gathering with a group of brothers and sisters. You are having a pleasant time and you take a group picture. In fact, you take two more pictures in case the first picture does not turn out well. Now you have three pictures. But in one of them, you notice that a brother is frowning. So you delete it because you have two other pictures in which everyone in the group, including that brother, is smiling. We usually have good memories of times spent with our brothers and sisters. But suppose that on one of those occasions, a brother or a sister says or does something that is unkind. What should we do with that memory? Why not try to delete it just as you would delete one of those pictures? (Eph. 4:32) We can afford to because we have many good memories of pleasant association with that individual. Those are the kinds of memories we want to keep and treasure. w23.11 12-13 ¶16-17

[dljbsp]

There’s a reason Proverbs 19:11 ties insight to restraint. Most injuries inside the congregation aren’t daggers — they’re small bumps, quick words, tired moments. But a tired moment can lodge in the heart if we let it sit there long enough.

The illustration in the text is right on target. We delete the bad photo because it doesn’t represent the whole day — it represents a second. And most offenses are exactly that: a second. A facial expression. A clumsy sentence. A moment when someone’s burden slipped into their tone.

 

When we hold on to those seconds, we rewrite the whole picture in our mind. But when we do what Ephesians 4:32 urges — extend kindness, tenderness, willingness to forgive — the memory shrinks back to its real size. A moment. Not a measure of the person.

 

Insight teaches us something simple: most wounds aren’t intentional. Most slights are symptoms, not attacks. And Jehovah sees far more smiles than frowns in each of his servants. If he treasures the whole picture, we can too.