Offense…I am offended today. Something was called to my attention that offended me. I felt insulted and immediately angry. So now what…?
The thing that offends me has no power over me really….unless I grant it. The question I am faced with is how I will respond. Do I rise to meet it? Challenge it? Maybe I’ll just rise up above it…raise the bar even. Maybe I will retaliate, seek revenge.
Or… do I just bow to it? Ignore it? Turn the other cheek yet again?
There have been many times when I have just simply reacted in situations like this. There are too many times when I do not channel offenses thru my Advocate. (1 John 2:1) He is my Defender. He is the One to Whom I should go with every thing that offends me.
Sometimes I have found that the things that offend me often reveal to me some ugliness that needs to be dealt with. Perhaps that is why He allowed it in the first place. I know that as His child. “The Lord knows those who are His.”(2Tim. 2:19) I am sealed, (Eph. 4:30) and nothing comes against me that I can not bear with His aid. “No temptation has seized me except what is common to man. God is faithful, He will not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear, but when I am tempted, He will also provide a way out so that I can stand up under it.” (1Cor. 10:13)
I can know no offense that my Lord does not know better. He washed the feet of the very one who would only moments later betray Him. Jesus had every right many times over to lash out in righteous indignation…He was insulted personally time and time again. The only time I recall in scripture where He showed any indignation was over the way His Father’s temple was being dishonored….and that incident was of no personal insult, but an insult to His Father.
Yep…I’m insulted….and trying to wait until I understand from Him where to go from here.
