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No Offense!


There is no good offense

Jesus warned of offenses. In (Matthew 18:7) He said, “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!”

Unlike the game strategies of football there is no such thing as a good offense when we are talking about human relations, and the discipline of being a Christian. Being an offense to someone, or the act of offending someone is wrong and hurtful, and it has the potential power of being devastating to the human spirit. Offending another person is most importantly sinful; this is why Jesus warned us not to be offensive to others.

Unfortunately, our world today encourages us to “get-in-front-of,” “out maneuver,” or to get ahead of others, sometimes at all costs. Why is this I wonder? Maybe it’s because we have been taught we deserve the best parking place, the bigger house, the fancier car or the highest paying job; even if we have to offend the other guy to get what we want…well, that’s life (or so we are led to believe.) Not so!

In (Philippians 1:9-11) the apostle Paul says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

We offend others when we ignore them, when we trivialize something they may say, when we fail to recognize their efforts to please us. We offend others when we criticize them. Our offense toward others may be intentional or unintentional, but when we are less than considerate of our friends, neighbors or family members, or we go out of our way to disrespect others we are guilty of having an offensive behavior.

I know none of us would want to offend God. Fortunately, His grace saves us. If we believe we have offended Him or someone else we can ask God to forgive us and repent of our sinful behavior. When we do, God is always faithful to forgive us.

Truth is; if we love and respect others we won’t want to offend them. Haven’t we been given commandments to love and respect all others, even our enemies?

When one of the Scribes confronted Jesus on the first commandment, Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is; ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30, 31).

Love and the desire to offend can never occupy the same heart.

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