Have you ever known someone who had the proverbial chip on his shoulder, or someone who took offense so easily that being around her was like walking on egg shells? Are we like that? We must not be so easily offended. The Bible says so!
"The Lord's servant must be...not resentful" (2 Tim. 2:24). Other translations say, "willing to suffer wrong," "patient when wronged," "a teacher who keeps cool".
If I were to hazard a guess as to the number one reason some "quit the church," it would be that someone hurt their feelings or they were offended at something someone said. Many of us are not very patient when we are wronged, are we?
But aren't we supposed to be like Jesus? Was He patient when wronged? When Philip was teaching the Ethiopian about Jesus, he began with the passage that said, "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth".
Paul concluded that those who oppose us we must gently instruct, not get mad and quit!
-- Wayne Sharp
