Overcoming Offences

Overcoming Offences
(En Español)

When we study what Jesus taught, it is obvious to me that He came to make us "unoffendable." Consider: He says that if someone slaps you on one cheek, offer him the other (Luke 6:29). He said to love our enemies and bless those who curse us (Luke 6:27-28). What He's really doing is showing us how an unoffendable heart of love overcomes all adversity.

We pray, "Lord, I want to change." To answer our prayer, He sometimes must put us in situations that perfectly offend us. The offense itself awakens our need of grace. Thus, the Lord precipitates change by first offending the area of our soul He desires to transform. He does not expect us to merely survive this adversity but to become Christlike in it.

Ask Joseph in the Old Testament: the land of offense became the land of his anointing and power because he possessed an unoffendable heart. He never stopped trusting God in spite of the injustices and trials he faced.

Listen my friends: the destiny God has for us unfolds or withers at the junction of offense. How we handle offense is the key to our tomorrow.

"Those who love [God's] law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble" (Ps. 119:165).

Lord, grant me that new creation heart that can walk as Jesus walked through a world of offenses without stumbling. I want to see everything as an opportunity to pray, everything as an opportunity to become Christlike. Lord help me to interpret offenses as opportunities that lead to transformations. Grant me, Lord Jesus, the pulse and beat of Your unoffendable heart. Amen.