Offense.
Sometimes it creeps up on us in little splinters that we can brush off. But other times? It arrives in truckloads.
For Marion Hedges, it was the latter.
She was in New York City on a benevolent spree- buying Halloween candies for underprivileged children.
Later on, as she walked to her car with her teen son in tow, a shopping cart came hurtling down on her from fifty feet above.
The cart, complete with its metal bars, wheels, wire basket, rigid handle (and whatever else constitutes a shopping cart), had been pushed over the fourth-floor guardrail of the mall by two teenagers in a random moment of mischief.
She, in turn, sustained brain injury, broke her ribs and collarbone, and slid into a coma. Life as she knew it turned on its head.
In an interview aired on the Today Show a decade later, she said she never needed to forgive the duo because she didn’t harbor negative energy towards them in the first place.
She wished them well.
She would later launch a non-profit organisation whose sole aim was to mentor teens, guiding them to make sound life decisions.
Mindboggling, isn’t it?
Hands up if you could use even a shred of her restraint; my hand is all the way up.
Offense will show up like clockwork
“Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!” (Luke 17:1)
Offenses will come in all sizes- small, medium, big, and oversized.
Perhaps you are reeling from one at the moment.
Perhaps the wound inflicted is still tender.
I also just felt my heart rate climb a notch at the memory of an offense that still pricks.
Because let’s be honest, God really does have some audacious children out here.
Which reminds me of a whacky quote I stumbled upon a while ago; I love God but some of His children get on my nerves…ha ha!
Whacky but very relatable.
When we get down to brass tacks, we are all flawed humans, hurtling around in a fallen world.
We are bound to grate on each other.
As long as we are on God’s green earth, it’s impossible to dodge offence.
The “medium” through which offense knocks at our door is infact the one that varies.
Today’s offense may come through your boss, and tomorrow’s through your child’s teacher.
Then lined up are your spouse, churchmate, co-worker, BFF, shop attendant, politician, child, cousin, etc.
The people around you will most definitely get their turn at riling you up.
Little wonder that the Bible is chock-full of instructions on how we ought to relate to each other.
God knew we would serve each other copious amounts of offense on this side of heaven.
The first step towards nipping it in the bud is acknowledging that sooner or later, it will rear its head.
Anticipating it helps you stay alert and not be caught offguard.
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”(1 Cor 16:13)
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Mathew 25:13)
Spot the real Enemy
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
The person causing you to grit your teeth is not your enemy, far from it.
They are not even behind the offense meted out against you; they are just being used.
The real enemy lurking mischievously in the shadows is the devil.
He is the one wringing his filthy hands in glee as he pits you against your spouse.
He’s got an evil smirk as he grates you against your co-worker, churchmate, neighbor, or parent.
Jesus was swift in spotting and calling out the devil as he worked through his overzealous disciple, Peter.
Brother Peter, in his usual audacious element, attempted to dissuade Jesus from submitting to His father’s will.
“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mathew 16:21-23)
Peter’s lips may have been moving alright, uttering those seemingly empathetic words.
Words that were excruciatingly offensive to Jesus.
Words that revolted against His sacred mandate.
Jesus, however, knew that Peter was merely a conduit, not the source.
The words he had blurted out had been cherry-picked and assembled from the pit of hell.
“Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me!”
Peter’s jaw must have dropped lower than a snake’s belly at Jesus’ rebuke.
He definitely didn’t imagine that the devil could borrow his voice.
Judas- definitely yes, but me?
After all, Jesus had earlier applauded him for unriddling His true identity.
“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”(Mathew 16:15-17).
The ink that had scribbled the applause had barely dried.
One moment, Peter was cruising in revelation; the next, he was relaying messages from hell.
You bet the devil is sly enough to borrow the voice of the most spiritual person in the room.
So when the devil uses whoever he deems fit to rile you up, get your eyes off them.
Don’t squander time wrestling with humans; they are merely channels.
Forgive them and discern your real enemy.
You are supposed to be dead
Flash news- your old man died
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”(Colossians 3:3)
Your old man died when you received Christ as your saviour.
You are a new creature who is renewed daily in the knowledge of God.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Though you continue to live in the flesh, you are no longer bound by your sinful nature.
The grace of God enables you to put to death the works of the flesh.
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Collossians 3:5)
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul”. (1 Peter 2:11).
You have victory over offense and a myriad of other sinful desires that war against your soul.
When offense clings to you like a tick, remember that you are not the one living in the first place.
If offense wants to tussle, let it do so with the new master and Lord of your life.
Imitate Jesus
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Phillipians 2:5-8)
If anyone had a plethora of reasons to succumb to offense, it would be sweet Jesus.
The offenses hurled at Jesus couldn’t be measured on any scale; they were world-sized.
He absorbed each of them and drizzled the sins of the world atop.
He was rejected, mocked, denied, abandoned, grieved, falsely accused, betrayed, condemned, spat on, scourged, struck, slapped, tortured, crowned with thorns, and ultimately hanged to death on a cross.
He took it all in.
Willingly, intentionally, and sacrificially.
Oh, He could have stopped all the madness at the flick of a switch if He wished.
Heaven would have responded in a flash if he had so much as winced.
Yet he bore it all to purchase our freedom.
“And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will [j]perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mathew 26:51-53)
Every offense that Jesus absorbed was a thread, intricately woven into God’s redemptive story.
It was all required to purchase our freedom.
His piercing was for our transgressions; his crushing for our iniquities, his chastisement brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)
“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. (Isiah 53:7)
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18)
While hanging on the cross, He let go of every offense meted out against Him.
“Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.” (Luke 23:34)
If Jesus could forgive world-sized offenses, you and I have no excuse to cling to ours.
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