“And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me”

Luke 7:23

One of the things, that the Lord has been working on me with is being offended. I love how pastor Darby said this, Offense is the lack of consumption of the Lord’s Word. The Word is how we feed our spiritual man and what the Holy Spirit will recall to our remembrance. If there is no Word in you, what will you recall when you are faced with trials?

The devil tempted Jesus after He got off his fast, with the opportunity to deny, disobey, and turn from the Lord. It was a late night, just gotten off a fast, and of course, the temptation to be offended came. I got a Christmas gift for a friend, and I ordered the wrong size. I purposely left the tags on in case this happened. My friend took the tags off. Of course, you can imagine how I felt. I focused on I lost this money, made a mistake, and not trying to blame them for messing up as well. I kept these things in my heart rather than expressing them, and I continued to grow in anger, bitterness, and shame. All of this only added fuel to the fire. I was quick to speak and be angry which is the complete opposite of the Lord’s Word (James 1:19). I had no Word in me to resolve those emotions and the temptation to. be offended. I rejected the Holy Spirit so I could get my point across and be the one on top.

After I said, the hurtful and emotional things, I felt shame that I responded in the way I did. Yet, what also came to mind was that I cannot sit with this offense, anger, unforgiveness, and shame. Those were not the fruits of the Spirit, so I did the thing that I did not want to do. My flesh was saying ” be petty and be angry that they were wrong”. My Spirit was saying pray, forgive, and worship. Of course, there was fight and opposition, but with the Lord on my side, I prevailed. I prayed and the anger went, while the comfort came. I worshipped, and the shame fleed. Your response after the fall is just as important as the response to the temptation.

It can be easy to look at situations and your feelings when you are faced with the hits of life. Don’t lose your peace, because sometimes it feels like losing all. The Lord never intended for us to be out of His peace. Keep away from the things that take your peace, Turn away and turn to the Lord.