Christian Living

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Offended?

By: Rick L King
July 13, 2008

Mr 4:17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

4624 skandalizw skandalizo skan-dal-id’-zo ("scandalize")
from 4625; TDNT-7:339,1036; v
AV-offend 28, make to offend 2; 30
1) to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall, metaph. to offend
1a) to entice to sin
1b) to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey
1b1) to cause to fall away
1b2) to be offended in one, i.e. to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority
1b3) to cause one to judge unfavourably or unjustly of another
1c) since one who stumbles or whose foot gets entangled feels annoyed
1c1) to cause one displeasure at a thing
1c2) to make indignant
1c3) to be displeased, indignant

Ac 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

Offence-677 aproskopov aproskopos ap-ros’-kop-os
from 1 (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of 4350; TDNT-6:745,946; adj
AV-void of offense 1, none offence 1, without offence 1; 3
1) having nothing to strike against, not causing to stumble
1a) of a smooth road
1b) metaph. of not leading others to sin by one’s mode of life
2) not striking against or stumbling
2a) metaph. not led into sin, blameless
3) without offense, not troubled by a consciousness of sin

Pr 18:19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Offended. Are we ever offended? Why is this such a battle at times? We always have opportunities to take offense because of what people say and the actions that they make. Why is this an important issue that we all must deal with?

First we must realize that the devil is behind this. He desires to kill steal and destroy. When we become offended it causes a stumbling block in our path. We are unable to go forward. Jesus even told us that when we do not forgive, that we will not be forgiven. He also said that unforgiveness would hinder our prayers. God desires that we walk in love towards all men. When we look at man’s faults, our focus is changed from focusing on the Lord to focusing on man. Man will never do everything that (we) think that he should. He will always be imperfect as long as he lives in a fleshly body. The trick of the devil therefore is to get us to focus on the circumstance or person rather than the Lord. The Holy Spirit once told me this: “Circumstances are not the problem. As we change, circumstances will automatically change because they are only a circumstance because of the way that we view them”. I also have been told when I was complaining about something that a person was or was not doing: “What other people do is not your problem. Do what I tell you only and leave the rest to me”. This requires a single-minded focus. Once we take our eyes off of Jesus, we are going to go downhill.

A few years back a situation came up that I could have gotten offended. I knew that the person was doing only what they knew to do so I could not expect them to do differently even though I was not very happy about what they had done. Jesus had put His love in my heart for the individual so I was able to look beyond their faults. Next thing I knew the devil started putting all kinds of things in my head so, as I would become offended at the person. I kept standing my ground saying that I choose to not be offended. I battled this attack for three days but because of God’s love in me for the person the demon spirit finally gave up and left. Had I signed on the dotted line and bought in to the offense, there would have been a wall between the person and me and I would have been unable to pray with love for them. Offenses separate people. They cause division and strife. God said that we are to forgive. True, maybe what they did is wrong, but we lose more than they do when we take offense.

I know a person that has had a very fruitful ministry in the area of deliverance. They have faced the devil doing all kinds of things. They have had to walk in the spirit and in love to deal with all those things the devil throws. Now unfortunately they have become critical and easily offended. Their eyes are more on the person and offense than on the Lord so their ministry is suffering. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. We must be careful and not allow offenses in our heart. It is a killer.

For some reason I seem to remember a word in the Greek meaning to not keep a record of wrongs. I just can't find it at the moment. Unforgiveness and taking offense, keeps us in bondage to things that have happened that other have done wrong. If we keep our focus on these, we can never go forward in the lord. Love does not keep a record of wrong. Love thinks on the good, not the bad.

Questions or comments? please send an email to [email protected] as i cannot receive private messages on FW at this time. Please note the underscore ( _ ) between the r and k in my email. Thanks!

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