Offending others...

This revelation is a story my good friend, Miss Liza, passed on to me.

Her friend (and neighbour), Mr L, went to the travel agency the other day to book some flight tickets. However, some misunderstandings arose, and the agent got offended, whilst Mr L got confused as English isn’t his first language.

He came back to ask if someone would accompany him to the agent to sort the misunderstandings out, but on hearing the story, everyone realized that the agent was actually in the wrong, and that he'd had NO cause for being offended. On pointing this out to Mr L, however, he was still adamant that he wanted to go back to sort out the issue. When asked why, he answered: “As a Christian, when I am offended, I am comforted by the gospel. A non-Christian, when he is offended, he has nothing to comfort him, so he will remain offended. Let me then rather be the offended party!”

It was such a great story, ‘cause I’ve been thinking over the practical implications of “When is enough, enough?” I am slowly, much to the dismay of my sinful self, coming to the conclusion that maybe there is no limit, within reason, to what we are called to endure for the sake of others and the gospel...