One of the dangerous tools of darkness to destroy any group or generation of men is offense.
[Luke 7:19-23 KJV] “And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?”
“And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.“
When people get offended, they change! This is a fact of life, when people get offended they change drastically. Anyone will change when they feel offended and do not deal with it. We must, therefore, be very careful how we handle offense; whether we are the ones offended or we are the ones being accused
To be offended is to feel unfairly or unequitably treated. Offence is injurious to faith, hence the need to watch out for offences.
Immediately you get offended, that is when you change. Look around and see for yourself; many people who used to be so nice, loving, and flowing and excited changed when they got offended; but for offenses it will come. It’s important to understand that in a church, offences will come. Anyone of us can at one time or the other be offended, let beware and deal with it. We must learn to always have a forgiving and sweet spirit.
Anything at all can offend anyone but how we deal with it matters a lot. One of the major causes of offence is hope deffered. John the Baptist was looking forward to the coming of the Messiah and after some time, he began to question his conviction. He sent messengers to Jesus, but the Lord exhort us to be careful of offense! He sent to tell John that “Blessed is the man who is not offended in Him!”
Prayer points
Pray that the Lord shall guide your heart into dealing with offense. May you have a big heart to be able to forgive and maintain a sweet spirit always!
Amen!
