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OVERCOMING THE SPIRIT OF OFFENSE
by Evangelist Garlena L. Hines
“More over if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go
and tell him his fault between thee and him alone…"
Matthew 18:15
How familiar are you with these sayings?
“We use to be friends, but they offended me
and I was very hurt”. “I use to work in
ministry but the pastor offended me by his
sermon; therefore, I no longer
participate”. “I would tell them the truth
but I don’t want to offend anyone”. We are
all familiar with the “spirit of offense”.
Not only have we been offended, but in most
cases, we have offended others. Why are we
so easily offended in the body of Christ?
Is it what the person said or how they said
it that offended us? While I agree that
there are times the tone in which an
individual relays a message has a bearing on
how we receive it. Then there are times the
individual can say it with sugar laced
around it and we’re still offended.
Let’s define offense: Webster defines
offense as “To
cause displeasure, anger, resentment, or
wounded feelings”.
Whether we intend it or not, there are times
our speech and actions have caused us to
offend others in the body of Christ. Many
times when I minister to people, the truth
has caused them to be offended. While
people want to be healed, delivered or grow
in the things of God, they’re often offended
by the truth that will allow them to be
free. One of my fondest memories of being
offended was surrounding my constant battle
with weight loss. I used food as a security
blanket for my abuse and my weight tipped
the scales at a whopping three hundred and
fifty pounds. While I knew I needed to lose
weight, I did not have the will power to do
so. Whenever someone suggested that I begin
a weight program, exercise program or eat
healthy I would become very offended. If
they were telling the truth, why was I so
offended? Let’s look at a few reasons why
some are offended, then we’ll share how to
handle offense.
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THE TRUTH HURTS:
“And ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free”. John 8:32.
Whenever you have been in bondage due to
a lack of knowledge, the enemy’s desire
is to keep you in that place.
Therefore, your flesh becomes familiar
with that state of mind and anytime the
truth hits up against that dark place it
causes you to hurt. The enemy hates the
light because Jesus is the light and the
truth. So if you have been in darkness
to believe having an affair,
lying/cheating on your taxes, or not
tithing is okay, whenever you hear a
word to speak against that deception, it
normally hurts. Have you ever had
anyone to tell you the “truth” about a
situation and it made you mad? Then ask
yourself why. I can remember when a
friend of mine gently saying to me that
I may want to start walking as a form of
exercise. I became so angry with her
because she told me the truth. It was
not said in a harsh way but out of
concern and love. Because the enemy
wanted me to stay in that place of
darkness believing obesity was not a
serious problem, when she brought it to
my attention, it hurt. Normally if
what’s said has no validity or truth to
it, it doesn’t hurt. But the next time
someone says something to you and it
hurts, it may have some truth behind
it.
-
THE
FLESH HATES CORRECTION:
“For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh) dwelleth no good thing”…Romans
8:18a. The Apostle Paul makes a very
profound statement in this passage. He
understands that anything our flesh
desires will always go against the will
of God, because the flesh desires what
is carnal and there is nothing good in
this flesh. Let your mind go back and
think of something you knew was wrong,
but when someone who loved you shared
with you your flesh kicked against the
truth. At one point in my life I had a
problem with taming my tongue. I said
whatever I felt, regardless of how the
other person felt or how derogatory my
words were. Whenever I was corrected, I
immediately became offended thinking
someone was picking on me. It was not
that I was being picked on, but my flesh
was kicking against correction and
chastisement. What we must understand
is whenever we are corrected, it is
God’s way of saying He doesn’t want us
to stay that way, but loves us enough to
bring forth correction. I am always
amazed whenever someone is offended by a
sermon because they feel the pastor is
talking about them, or someone told the
pastor what’s going on in their life.
Well, maybe God revealed to the pastor a
particular word to bring an individual
out of bondage. So whenever you find
yourself not desiring to be corrected,
it may be because your flesh is kicking
against instruction.
- THE
UNTAMED TONGUE:
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of
iniquity, so is the tongue among our
members, that it defileth the whole body
and setteth on fire the course of
nature”
James
3:6a. Have you met people who say, “I
just say what I feel, I speak my mind, I
tell people off and how they deal with
it is their business”. These statements
are not coming from individuals who are
unsaved but these statements come from
many in the body of Christ. Do you know
how many people have been damaged due to
the spirit of offense through what
someone said to them? Do you know how
many people have been damaged due to
gossip, false accusations, exposing
another person’s pain or speaking evil?
The scripture says the tongue is a fire,
a world of iniquity. Think how many
times rumors have been released and
someone’s reputation has been
shattered. Normally this type of
offense is difficult to overcome, but
not impossible.
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