We are living in a day where everyone is offended by every.little.thing. Offense is found in every news report, social media message, every business, church, or just daily life with others. There are numerous reasons for being offended:
Someone expressing an opinion that differs from ours
Unmet expectations we have of someone who has let us down
Harsh or critical comments
Being left out
Seeing someone else’s faults
Feeling overlooked or underappreciated
Jealousy
But, the true cause of offense is pride.
Someone has wronged ME, someone has hurt ME, someone disagrees with ME, someone doesn’t care about ME…..
While being offended is something to be expected of non-Christians, many Christians are being offended today.
God’s Word has a lot to say about being offended and how allowing ourselves to be easily offended causes bitterness to take root in our lives.
Do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For many times, also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others Ecclesiastes 7:21-22
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12:18
Notice it says, “as far as it depends on YOU”. You can not control the actions of others, but you CAN control how you respond.
With God’s help you don’t have to be offended!
The opposite of being offended is love.
Love is long suffering towards others and not easily provoked.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-5)
As Christians we will always face irritants and annoyances, but it’s what we do with the offense that matters.
Do we dismiss it immediately or do we allow it to fester as we allow ourselves to dwell on the incident over and over and over?
When offended, most people don’t address the issue with the person that caused the offense, which sometimes can be a good thing, but secretly harbor all kinds of negative emotions which is detrimental to their relationship with the Lord.
Holding on to bitterness is a deadly sin that poisons every part of our being with anger, malice, and eventually hate.
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. – Hebrews 12:15
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:15
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Colossians 3:8
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:12-15
God’s Word tells us to unconditionally love, always forgive, and do everything within our power to be at peace with everyone.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 8:14-15
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” Psalm 119:165
So, put off all offenses and put on LOVE, the bond of perfection!
Everything about which we are tempted to complain may be the very instrument whereby the Potter intends to shape His clay into the image of His Son- a headache, an insult, a long line at the check-out, someone’s rudeness or failure to say thank you, misunderstanding, disappointment, interruption. As Amy Carmichael said, “See in it a chance to die,” meaning a chance to leave self behind and say yes to the will of God, to be “conformable unto His death.”
Elisabeth Elliot
Calvary Love
By: Amy Carmichael
If I have not compassion on my fellowservant, even as my Lord had pity on me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can easily discuss the shortcomings and the sins of any; if I can speak in a casual way even of a child's misdoings, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand," or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve around myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have "a heart at leisure from itself," then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I do not give a friend "the benefit of the doubt," but put the worst construction instead of the best on what is said or done, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I take offense easily; if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.
If I say, "Yes, I forgive, but I cannot forget," as though the God, who twice a day washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world, could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
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