Food for ThoughtProverbs 19:11 Overlook Offenses
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

Proverbs 19:11

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

11 People with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

In this season, I have been painfully aware of the offenses I am effected by to almost anything and everything around me. People drive too slow, then they drive too fast. Someone doesn't respond according to how I think they should or a person seemed rude...etc. etc.

We have what Katie Souza calls, chronic offense. Katie Souza is an author, and teacher who had revelation about her hidden sin of offense and was delivered from it's imprisonment. Now she is able, by God's power and wisdom, to help others be free from the affects of offense. Another well respected teacher and author, John Bevere, wrote the book The bait of Satan. He too has been sent out by God as one who holds many insights that help to free the captives from the sin and effects of offense.

Christians are notorious for being easily offended. Look at the Pharisees. If those under their influence didn't bow to their judgments, that person was ostracized and made to feel inferior. We take offense on many levels; We don't like the way others view God. we don't like certain renditions of the bible and therefore it is the wrong version. we criticize anyone who does not teach the word of God according to our expertise or approval or we make the grave mistake of comparing someone's teachings with that certain preacher we approve of and according to us, is perfectly in line with scripture. God has created men and women whom He has given much insight in various areas so that they can reach certain people who need that particular truth. All of them are believers who love Jesus and only want to obey His leading in their life.

The offenses we take on are of our own making. Even Jesus did not take on offense like we, as Christians have. If people don't behave as we think they should, then they are wrong and we judge them to hell. It has to be our way, in our time otherwise we get angry and offended. This is shameful to the Kingdom of God and depletes us of all power.

Christ sent us out into the world to be witnesses of His great love and salvation but we have not done so. Instead we would rather sit comfortably in our offenses and allow ourselves to remain powerless and avoided by those whom we are called to bring into the kingdom with our love and acceptance. God loved and accepted us "while" we were sinners. He didn't wait until we chose to do what He wanted. He extended His love and mercy to a people who were smack dab in the middle of the muck an mire and he required nothing from us.

Challenge: We need to ask ourselves, "Am I the hindrance to another person coming to Christ?" If so, the judgment of God will fall upon our own head. It is time to stop the pettiness of being offended and just take a risk to just love. God is love and that is the message we are supposed to carry.

God bless

Marni

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.