Offense

How do you deal with offense? I'm getting straight to the point today because this is s topic that has been on my mind lately. As a very non-confrontational person, it's sometimes easy for me to become offended. I'm pretty sure most of the time, the offender does not even know they have offended me! Satan loves to use offense as a weapon against us. This is ESPECIALLY true when it comes to the church body and those who are working for the Kingdom.

Just as in any community, there are many different types of personalities within the church. There are people who don't care about the "fluff", they just want the details and to get straight to the point. To a person who is free-spirited, the bluntness of the other person can cause offense. One personality thinks the other lazy or incapable of accomplishing a task (because they are easily distracted), while the other personality finds the details person to be rude for not wanting to hear all the glorious descriptions of the subject at hand.

What about offense within a marriage? I close friend of mine has been married for a long time...decades. Her and her husband are experiencing some pretty rough times and are trying to work things out. In my conversations with her, many of the examples she has given of hurt go back over a dozen years. What I see is what happens when offense is buried and not dealt with in a healthy way. The hurt and pain of the transgression does not simply disappear. It's buried deep inside like a splinter that gets pushed beneath the skin. If not removed immediately, the wound begins to fester and an infection spreads throughout the whole body, or in this case soul and marriage. Until the offenses, both past and present, are dealt with, healing will not be able to occur.

The enemy knows relationships are the greatest weapon we have in advancing the Kingdom of God. Its friendships that help to motivate us and hold us accountable and marriages that represent God's covenant with us and lead to producing children who will be warriors for Christ.

"A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle." Proverbs 18:19

If we are unyielding, we cannot be transformed from what we were to what God wants us to be. If we are trapped within the prison of offense, we cannot grow and neither can our relationships. Don't allow the enemy to poison your mind and soul by harboring offense. Even if you are a non-confrontational person like me, you can take your wounds of offense to the throne and ask God to heal the pain buried within. You'll be amazed at the work He will do in YOU through the process!