Easily Offended
“Oh, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
Psalm 34:3
Have you noticed the increase in the opportunities to get offended? Even after all these years with my man, I sometimes get offended by what he says. As a rational woman, I may know he doesn’t mean something the way I took it, but I still feel a huge pull to get offended. I believe in the day that we are living, the days prior to the return of the Lord, there will be a greater pull than ever before to get easily offended.
Jesus taught us in Mathew 18:7 that offenses will surely come. In Mathew 24, when the disciples asked Jesus what the signs of His return would be, He said in verse 10, “and then many shall be offended…”
So we should not be surprised when we feel the pull to get offended at the drop of a hat. The question is, how fast do you move past an offense? Jesus made it possible for us to be able to move past offenses very quickly.
I must constantly remind myself that we are in “the time,” of the days before Jesus's returns. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that there would be a great falling away in these days. I believe the falling away is due to being offended. If your love waxes cold according to Mathew 24, you will fall away.
So knowing all this, and being reminded of it as I write, I know when I am offended, I must quickly forgive. Forgiveness is the only answer! It is the way of escape! The quicker I forgive, the quicker I come back into my right mind. When I am offended my soul is in control. When I forgive my spirit rises up above my soul and takes back over.
I have learned that when I am offended everything is distorted and even my emotions become out of control. When I am offended at a person I will see them in a distorted way. Also I realize that when I am offended at someone, I will become overly focused on them. They become the center of attention, or it's all we talk about for days. Every conversation even goes back somehow to what you are offended about. The more we put our focus on who we are offended at, the more magnified they become.
This is why offenses cause our heart to wax cold and may lead us to sin against God. He is the only one we are to magnify. When we focus on others and what they did to offend us, we make them bigger than God.
So right now press the minimize button and minimize the person who has offended you. Bring them down to the right size and forgive them, and remember, if it were not for the grace of God you might be the one that is offending others.
