Does Faith Make a Difference? Overlooking an Offense

"Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense"
Proverbs 19:11

This past Sunday at West County Fellowship, Pastor Dan Doriani asked the question: "does faith make a difference?" Does putting our trust in Christ... espousing the ancient creed of Jesus risen from the dead and sins forgiven... have any impact on our daily life? Well, the simple answer was: it should. I was struck by a proverb quoted during the message: "Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense." Overlooking an offense is hard indeed and something our surrounding culture does not fully embrace. According to popular culture, our identity is wrapped up with our accomplishments and reputation. An offense strikes at those things and so stikes our our sense of self. How can this be overlooked?

Because when our trust is in Christ, we come to believe that our sense of self comes, not from our accomplishments, but from being relationally and mystically connected to Christ who was perfect in every way and deeply loves us. Do you believe that? Do you believe that when God looks at you, He sees the perfection of Christ and accepts you as a dearly loved son... a dearly loved daughter? The profound sense of satisfaction and grounding this provides is a glorious thing and made manifest when we can overlook offenses against us. It is our glory to overlook an offense because we reflect that same glory of God that led Him to send Christ, redeem us, and therefore overlook our offenses. In Christ you are loved! It should make a difference.