How to Give Grace to Someone Who Is Irritating

In review of Proverbs 19:11 it says, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”

Bottom Line:

A wise man will restrain his anger and overlook insults. Doing so will earn you respect.

What this means to me:

I am to be wise and yield patience. I need to restrain my ager and overlook insults that come my way. If I can do this I can earn respect and show what I’m like by forgiving others. Whenever I deal with someone who is offensive or irritating, you need to look past the behavior to their pain.  Everything we do is motivated by something. When people are hurting others, it’s because they’re hurting on the inside. Hurt people will hurt others.

The more I can understand other people’s backgrounds, the more grace I’ll be able to show them. How much do I know about the backgrounds of those who are difficult to deal with. I don’t know anything about their background, their upbringing, their home life. If I don’t know their story, I’ll likely not show them any grace.

The Bible says in Proverbs 19:11, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense” (NIV). With a viewpoint of wisdom, I won’t get offended, because wisdom gives me patience. When I understand somebody’s background, I’ll better understand the stress that person is under; allowing me to easily show grace. Wisdom will give me the patience to overlook the offense.

This is real love, the Bible says refusing to be offended by other people is actually an act of mature love. It shows me how much love I have in my heart. The more love I have in my heart, the harder it will be to offend me on a personal basis.

The less love I have in my heart, the more insecure I’ll feel and the easier it will be to become offended.. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:12, “Love overlooks the wrongs that others do” (CEV). The more I am filled with love, the less I’m going to be upset when they are demanding, demeaning, disapproving or whatever.

So my first step in dealing with difficult people is to make the to refuse taking it personal and to not be offended.

Today i will consider the people who are the most difficult to deal with in my life and consider how I can learn more about them in order to show grace.