By Tezra
Kobwengye
An offence
is an annoyance brought about by a perceived insult and the Greek word from
which it is translated means a snare; or a stumbling block. Offences make one
powerless. An offence is not necessary one’s feelings getting hurt; it starts
out as minor irritations that then build up into an offence.
The two below are the targets of a person´s
offence;
1. God
…for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to
anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One who relents from doing harm. _Jonah 4:2
And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.¨ _Matthew 11:6
When things
in our lives happen that don’t seem fair, we can choose to blame God and dwell
on those things. When we reject and run away from what God is calling us to and
the people we ought to minister to; we are offended at Him.
2. People
A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city… _Proverbs 18:19
It sure is
easy to be unforgiving when one is offended. It makes it even harder to forgive
ourselves when we have offence towards people or ourselves. Our power is in
love and in nothing else.
In the most
extreme of situations, Jesus prayed that His Father forgives His crucifiers.
We have been
given the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18
Some four
pointers to help us live free from offence and in forgiveness every day;
1. Be in
agreement with God´s vision of Love and fellowship.
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God
abides in us… _1st John 4:12
2. Keep the
discipline of love.
…bearing with one another, and forgiving one another…_Colossians 3:13
Love demands
that we forgive others around us; thus to be without offence. Acts 24:16
3. Grow and
mature in love.
Love is a
choice we make and we must practice to do this and not live by what we see or
feel.
4.
Understand the victory of love.
…all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for
another. _ John 13:35
It is only
in love that we can be a blessing; to this are we called, to this are you
called, Christian.