Category: What Am I

What Am I, Offensive? Part 2

Leave a comment
What Am I, Offensive? Part Two  

“And He said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:1-4 (ESV) 

Ya know sometimes we can wake up in the morning, look at God’s Word and His creation, take a deep breath and say to ourselves, “It is real good”. Then we drink our coffee, get in our cars and by the time we arrive at our destination we can be saying, “This ain’t too good”. Something must have happened along the way and our position has shifted. Maybe on our walk to the car, driving it on the highway, heard something off note on the radio or while we were at the local convenience store to get that second cup of coffee. Maybe we have taken the bait and now we are none too happy. Hmm…So what can be gathered from the opening passage that I have taken from the Book of Luke? 

 Well the first thing I would like to do here is to take a look at the NKJV version of Luke 17:1, “Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!” Can we understand that Jesus had to said this to His disciples (and to us as well) so that they could see their need for deep humility? You see, no matter to what degree of guilt in the offense or the amount of punishment there should have been for it, Jesus wanted them (and us) to understand that faith in His Fathers pardoning mercy will enable all of us to get over whatever offense would come our way and hinder our ability to forgive. Remember Jesus made it quite clear that it is impossible to go through this life and not have those moments to become offended and also remember that you have the tri-unity of a loving and merciful God to protect you when the snares of the devil seem to be all around you.  

And do we remember what Paul wrote to us in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (ESV) If we are holding this true in our lives then we need to understand that we cannot squirm off the altar, even though there will be times where we will. That in essence a dead man cannot be offended because we understand His mercy and it will be the Lord who will defend us because we should be immersed in His word and the discernment to know what His will is will be revealed to us though His Word.

Let’s see what David had to say about offense in Psalm 55:12-14, “For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.” It is suggested that the groundwork for this Psalm is found in the rebellion of Absalom and the treachery of Ahithophel, (a promise that you find in 2 Kings 15:12) both whom were sons of David, sons of a revered king who fell away because of sins that had their root in offense.  
Here is a question for you…Do you already have or can you create a list of people, either close to you or somewhat distant, that have offended you? And remember that the possibilities for offense could be just as long as that list of people. 

So no matter how simple they seem or as difficult as they can get this truth remains about offenses: the level of care or the height of expectation in you determines how much hurt you will feel when that level of care gets disrespected or the height of expectation is not met. The next Freedom Fighter we will get into that character who could have taken offense. In the meantime, I pray that your list has been a short one because I am certainly taking issue with my own. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Samuel 13-15; Psalm 113; Proverbs 4
Compass Pointers: What or whom we worship determines our behavior. John Murray
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 18:10; Level 2: Proverbs 18:1-8
Anchored to the Rock: Mountains can only be climbed with knees bent.

What Am I, Offensive? Part 1

Leave a comment
What Am I, Offensive? Part One 

“And He said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:1-4 (ESV) 

So let’s start this off by asking a few questions. How many of us struggle with being offended? How many of us struggle with being offensive? And then for an added kicker, how many of us struggle with knowing the difference between the two? If we were to look up offend in Webster’s Dictionary it would define the word offend as: to arouse resentment, anger, or vexation in, to be displeasing, and to commit a sin. And then it defines offense as: The act of offending or the state of being offended, a breach of a social or moral code, a crime, the act of attacking. Or something that I wish the Philadelphia Eagles would remain constant in throughout a season. 

In any sense of the root word, offend, there seems to be an opposite and equal reaction. And that would be something else we can have issue with and that is to defend or to be defensive. Something else I wish said football team would remain constant in throughout a season. Now there are a few ways we can view the idea of offend and defend when these two action words come into play in our lives. We are called to put on the armor and prepare ourselves to go on the defensive against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers this present darkness, against forces of evil in the heavenly places. So let’s take a look at the armor we are to wear for a moment.

“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” (Ephesians 6:14-18 ESV) 

Now when we take a look at the armor it is all in front of us isn’t it. It is meant to protect you in as much to take a stand as it is meant to go on the attack and when I say attack I mean in those times when we find ourselves defending the truth in our daily walk. And take notice that there is nothing in this passage of Scripture that says you need to put anything on your back. The only thing you have is the tri-unity of a loving and merciful God. Pretty cool, huh? But unfortunately the view often taken in the way we apply these two action words to our daily walk is really rooted in pride and selfishness. And where we told to produce the fruits of the Spirit, (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) we can waste time and effort producing the fruits of offense and the fruits of defense.   

The fruits produced by offense are things like hurt, anger, outrage, jealousy, resentment, strife, bitterness, hatred and envy. The fruits produced by defense are things like spewing insults, going on the attack either physically or emotionally, a wanting to continue wounding, creating division, maintain separation, breaking relationships, betrayals and the justification to backsliding. In either case, of being offended or being defensive, if we find that these are the only fruits from either list that we are producing in our daily lives…we fallen into a trap and have been captured by the bait of Satan. 

I would like to continue this conversation with you all in the next few Freedom Fighters. It will end with some young guy who, when back in the Old Testament days, had almost every man-made right to get and be offended by those who he thought loved or at least respected him. But I ask you to go back and take a look at the list of the fruits of offense and defense. See if there are any of these traits on those list’s that seem to have worked their way into your life. Keep in mind that if they are there, they are produced to kill your joy in Christ and something even bigger to keep minded about…there are produced by you. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves on the Families for Christ ministry team 

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 1 Chronicles 20; Psalm 112; Proverbs 3
Compass Pointers: “Jesus said our ability to see correctly is another key to being freed from deception. Often when we are offended we see ourselves as victims and blame those who have hurt us. We justify our bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, envy, and resentment as they surface. Sometimes we even resent those who remind us of others who have hurt us. For this reason Jesus counseled, “Anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18). See what? Your true condition! That’s the only way we can “be zealous and repent” as Jesus commanded next. You’ll only repent when you stop blaming other people.” The Bait of Satan  John Bevere

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 18:10; Level 2: Proverbs 18:1-8
Anchored to the Rock: If your troubles are deep-seated or long-standing, try kneeling.