Quick to Take Offense

Scripture References: Leviticus 18:4-5; 1 Timothy 1:9-10

British Loyalists bristled at the clamorous American appeal to law and the rights of free men. However, with more law commentaries ordered from England than any book but the Bible, many Americans read the law. Today, two-thirds of all lawyers practice in the United States, offering 5 percent of the world’s population 66 percent of the available legal counsel.

Our zeal for law has developed a litigious society that has profit—not the public good—as its goal. A recent study showed that more civil lawsuits are filed in the state of Massachusetts than in the nation of Japan. Little wonder. Japan has less than twelve thousand lawyers, fewer than the number of licensed attorneys in Washington, D.C. With a 1,000 percent increase in lawsuits since 1975, we spend $30 billion a year suing each other.

Many Christians carry a litigious attitude into their interpersonal relationships, especially toward other members in the local church. We too quickly take offense with a brother, divide the fellowship into competing sides, and pull our membership to go elsewhere. Conflict in the church body isn’t necessarily evil. It offers an opportunity to put the second commandment into practice: Love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t we want acceptance and patience from others, whatever our views? Can we refuse to others what we desire for ourselves?

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.