Overcoming the Spirit of Offense

In Luke 17:1, Jesus says it is impossible that no offenses will come. In Greek, the word for offenses can mean hindrances, obstacles, or stumbling blocks. And that’s what the spirit of offense does—it hinders our walk with Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I can be having a full-on spiritual revival in my car, listening to my worship music, and feeling the very presence of God. But when someone cuts me off without using a blinker, suddenly my heart loses focus, and I’m yelling out:

“Jesus, you’d better take the wheel,
because I’m about to rear-end a Pharisee!”

Admittedly not my best look.

But, thankfully, God has been working on my heart. He revealed that I tend to get so caught up in the fruit of my offense, I ignore the root of my offense. More often than not, my offense is rooted in a misplaced or self-centered need.

For example:

• My need to be acknowledged leads to the offense of being ignored.
• My need to be right leads to the offense of being belittled.
• My need to be liked leads to the offense of being rejected.
• My need to be needed leads to the offense of being discarded.
• My need to be praised leads to the offense of being insulted.

Jesus could easily have spent His whole life being offended. He was ignored, belittled, rejected, discarded, and insulted. But He chose not to let the offenses offend Him or keep Him from what He was called to do. Instead, His final words on the cross were, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

And He tells us to do the same. Jesus confirms that offenses will come, but in the same verse, He continues on to say that when your brother offends you, you should forgive him. Why? Because we can’t walk in our calling when we are too busy being offended, and we stop being offended when we forgive the offense.

“That’s great in theory, but I don’t know if I can forgive them.”

If that’s true for you today, then you’re not alone. I’ve been there, 100%. When I was feeling betrayed, bitter, and broken, Jesus met me where I was—and then gently reminded me I had been forgiven for much worse: a debt I could never pay. Nobody can offend me to the extent that my sin offended God. But He forgave me freely and completely, so I have no justification for withholding my own forgiveness.

Ouch.

It’s easy to take offense to God’s truth when we aren’t walking in it, but rather than shooting the messenger when we feel convicted, we need to deal with our roots so they stop growing fruit.

At the end of the day, if we are looking to other people to fulfill the deepest needs of our hearts instead of God, we will spend our entire lives being offended and disappointed.

So, go out and forgive someone today.

(Especially the Pharisee who cut you off this morning.)