Red Hot!

Taking Offence!

How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me'? Up to seven times?"
[Mt 17:18-27] Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times'

What people meet touch and experience is what you and I are.

If we don’t personally or corporately allow God to shape us in his image and likeness something else will and negative things will happen personally and corporately (church and nation).

Rightness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people. In Africa we have too many examples of this, remember the Rwanda genocide? Instead of mercy and forgiveness anger and bitterness was and is even now being produced in some parts of the church of Christ.

In church some people are offended because somebody’s sitting in the wrong place on their seat or someone has responded in the wrong way so something rises up in us and we are offended. Have we lost mercy? A lot of guilty people come to church and don’t need any more guilt as there is so much guilt already in their lives they can hardly stand up! What we need is say with Jesus neither do I condemn you. At present in a lot of our gatherings instead of teaching the world mercy we impart legalism that produces religion and death.

Mt 17: vs 32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, `I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay hack all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." The truly godly person never forgets that he was at one time an object of God's holy and just wrath. He never forgets that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The love of God has no meaning apart from Calvary. And Calvary has no meaning apart from the holy and just wrath of God.

Offence comes from a Greek word giving rise to the English word scandalous. The bible uses this word as stumbling block. We have an adversary of our soul who is committed to stopping us from coming into our destiny he puts bait where we just keep on raising instead in offence and disunity instead of moving forward in the Holy Spirit. Remember the church and the nation have a ‘soul’ too that the enemy seeks to destroy. We are hooked every time we swallow his bait. When this happens we don’t realize that we are hooked by offence when we have chosen to take displeasure.

Sometimes we live most of our lives in the past and fail to embrace the future due to offence and our every action is a reaction to our history. Let’s remember there is no failure that needs to be final there is no mistake that needs to wipe you and I out, there is no environment that needs to bury you or me when the Holy Spirit is still breathing life over us.

You can’t relate to people properly because you are not sure where they are coming from. And because you have been offended before and have been hurt you are constantly trying to avoid certain people in case of a repeat. In Judges 11:1 -3 Jephthah the son of a prostitute run away when he was kicked out, pushed away and hounded by his brothers who later asked him to help them. Jephthah could easily be offended; he lost his home, his family ties and inheritance because of his step brothers. He was able to stand up and take the moment to go back to his people when God provided the opportunity and become one of the Judges of Israel. So you and I can get up and get over it get rid of the friction and attain our destiny in God using our unique God given gifts and talents.

More over we can get offended with God, John the Baptist was. MT 11: 6 Jesus says blessed is any one who is not offended because of me. So just when destiny comes our way, just when the door opens something rises up in us and before we know it we have missed the moment. John could have celebrated his life’s destiny as a trumpet preparing the way for the lord. So you and I should make a choice never to be offended.

But you may say that doesn’t depend on me it rather everyone else. They must all stop offending me! But the nature of offence is a position you choose to take and when you take it you’re sunk! Even if the world stops offending you would still offend yourself. You would look in the mirror and offend yourself past and present by saying what is this spot on my face; where did this type of strange hair come from; I don’t like myself! So just when the moment comes for you to come through you can’t. You need to get over it! Get over your background, your failure, your inferiorities and your offence. Know that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The truth shall set you free!

He died that we, the just objects of God's wrath, should become, by His grace, heirs of God and co-heirs with Him. Do you have that assurance that your past, present, and future sins are forgiven by Christ Jesus because of what He did on the cross? If not, you can. In 1 John 1:9 we read, "If we con­fess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Through God's Word you can be assured that your sins will not be on your permanent record as you stand before God on judgment day.

Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.