I have been contemplating forgiveness and wrote a couple of posts over the past week. This come staring at an index card on my desk every morning with Dallas Willard’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer. The phrase as we forgive those who offend us in any way.
That idea of “offends us” ranges from a careless word to language we find offensive to doing something offensive.
I wrote about how I may not have forgotten the acts of many who have offended me. I have moved on and carry no emotional baggage. Even though almost to a man those who have offended me were self-proclaimed Christians, I have not therefore refused to deal with Christians. I am more careful, though. We do need to learn from experience.
But let us turn this around going beyond forgiveness. Can we learn something from those whom we find offensive? Can those who disagree with us teach us something? Can we change our perspective and find a learning opportunity wherever we look? Could I watch TV news and learn something? Perhaps from a Twitter post or something on Facebook? Maybe instead of a quick emotional reaction, I could pause and ask why they believe that? Is there a truth from their perspective that I should consider—since I obviously don’t know everything about everything.
Approach everything as an opportunity for spiritual growth, not as an opportunity to show how much smarter I am than them. Perhaps we all come out ahead.
Faith Venture 
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