“The man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is his glory to overlook an offence” ~ (Proverbs 19:11).

According to the world, if insulted, the bigger man is the one who can give back the wittiest and weightiest way. But God says it is to man’s glory to overlook an offence! That takes patience, which is a product of wisdom, which God tells us He will give us if we ask without finding fault.

But most of us don’t want to pray for patience because we know that God will then give us situations in which the fruit of the Spirit will have opportunity to grow.

That’s just it; patience is a fruit of the Spirit that must grow in us, but one we would rather not cultivate. Sometimes, we even seem to be proud that we have not done this! We write it off to our human frailties and therefore that is it! So we hope that life will go along smoothly that we won’t have any reason to show patience. Then, when we are offended, we lash out as impatiently as the world, and the world would never be able to tell that we follow Christ. Or if they know that we are Christians, they may even assume that there is nothing to Christianity!

Don’t have wisdom enough to pray for patience to grow in your life? Ask so that you may receive it. Then it can be to your glory to overlook an offence! Then the world will glorify God as well.