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Part 1
Matthew 24:10
And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and
shall hate one another.
Satan's
number one bait to "get" Christians
is offense. When we take that bait,
we are caught in his trap.
The word
for offense in Greek is 'skandalon'
and it means "the trigger in the
trap on which the bait is place".
When touched by the animal it causes
the trap to close. The conduct of
the animal following the tripping of
the trigger on the trap is the
manifestation of being offended. If
the animal caught remains in the
trap it will lead to certain death.
There are two
categories of offenses:
1) Those who
have been mistreated unfairly, 2)
Those who think they have been
mistreated unfairly.
And, it
doesn't matter which of these
categories fit, because the result
is the same; offense will separate
you from the body of Christ and,
eventually, from the Lord.
It is a
truth of God's word that at some
point in their life a Christian will
be treated unfairly. Just as Christ
was not treated fairly by this
world, those who follow Him should
expect the same treatment and not
allow resentment and bitterness to
grow inside of us.
The cure
and the prevention for this is
forgiving.
Be kind and
compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in
Christ God forgave you. --Ephesians
4:32
This isn't
talking about something we should be
doing. It's talking about a state of
being; a state of continually
receiving God's forgiveness in
Christ, and giving that same
forgiveness to others. Even while
you are being offended, you are
being forgiving.
When we
allow an offense to remain in our
hearts, it causes serious spiritual
consequences. We must all be very
careful not to take the bait.
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Part
2 |
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When you allow offense to
come in and take root, you
open the door for deception.
The offended person can so
easily be deceived and
misled.
Also, if you don't forgive
others from the heart, God
cannot forgive you. We all
need forgiveness at times
and, to receive it, we must
give it.
The
other side to this is to be
careful not to give offense!
Of course, there will always
be unavoidable offense just
because there is enmity
between the works of the
flesh and the works of the
Spirit. But, we don't have
to create offenses.
Wherever Jesus went, people
were offended because of
him. It is possible that
Jesus offended more people
than any man who ever lived
on the face of the earth. He
offered Light and people
preferred darkness.
Behind every offended
response is sin. Sin in the
hearts of people produces
offense whenever they hear
what they don’t want to
hear. So, in actuality, an
offense, most of the time,
is the fault of the hearer
and not of the speaker. One
person will hear a certain
truth, and be glad, while
another will hear the same
truth, and be resentful and
outraged.
Many times, the offended
person will run from the
place where he is being told
the truth because he really
doesn't want to hear it. How
sad this is. Why run from
the cure? Run from the
disease instead.
The disease is sin and lack
of knowledge---the cure is
truth.
Don't take offense! Desire
truth---desire correction.
And, even if someone has
actually betrayed you,
FORGIVE THEM! You will be
the winner! |
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