“Offense. And not the football kind.”
"A brother
offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars
of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19, NKJV
It happened again. Just
after we finished the worship team practice for the Sunday morning gathering.
An offense sent my way. Just great.
And it happened then, on
the Friday before, a few hours before we were to meet for the first time in The
Barn for the monthly Strength For Israel gathering, with me leading the worship
team, I got offended.
Excitement had been built
up. The night was going to be really special. And then the drummer called,
saying he forgot to tell me he had to work that night. Great.
Not only that, but one friend
who had played with us before really got offended when I didn’t ask him
to play as the first one I contacted, not even knowing if he still did play
after our last time we did together many years ago. So, that mistake was
followed by his literal 40-minute rant over the phone to me. Lord!
I like watching football.
I enjoy when there is a great offensive team on the field, especially the college
team I follow during the fall on Saturday afternoons, who hail from the Midwest
(I’ll leave it at that, except to say I still have one Catholic heritage I
maintain.) When they run the ball around the end; when they throw the deep bomb
to the wide-open receiver; when a touchdown is scored at the very end to win
the big upset, that is offense! Another great play again! “Hail, hail to old…”
I like that kind of
offense.
But like you, I don’t
like being offended. The kind when someone ridicules you, makes fun of your
looks, or tells you something that you already know and have been praying about
for a long time. That one concern you have been hoping that someday the Lord
will bring the answer to that deep longing in your heart, that aches every time
someone mentions it again. (After all, He put it there. Can you hurry it up,
please, Lord!)
We are so easily offended.
We take things wrong. We let the arrows pierce our heart. We carry it far too down
the road, long after it happened. And it does happen. But then, days, months, years,
and decades go by. Will we ever let it go?
Maybe what happened was
on purpose. Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe we just had had enough, and everything
anyone says becomes the tipping point.
But it need not be so. I
am still learning, and trying, but over the years, and there have been a lot of
them now, I know the answer is to be quick to forgive and let it go.
After all, that is what
our Lord, the One Who is daily getting cursed at, laughed at, screamed at…for
everything and from everyone…did even back on the cruel cross He accepted and chose
to forgive His creation, from that place, as He hung there dying. For us. So
we too could forgive.
Arrows are going to
come. Words are going to be said. Mistakes are going to be made.
Our choice is either to
let them settle in our spirit, or quickly choose to forgive, and forget about
it. Yes, you New Englanders, “Forget about it.”
Often my first reaction
is to take the hit and back off from them. But then I too have to quickly
decide if I am going to let it become part of my life, let the bitterness grow
in my heart and maintain a wounded spirit, or forgive, even as I want to be
forgiven for the wrong I have done. (The Lord bless my wife and my kids who have
known me – and all the good, the bad, and the ugly over the years.)
Far too many have left
families, churches, synagogues, jobs, and life, deciding to not forgive and
forget. Sad to say, they waste away in their hurt and bitterness. But the Lord
Jesus is continually coming after them, to free them from the hit. If they will
let Him.
Everyone has been hurt. We
each have had offenses come our way. We can choose to stay offended, or we can
forgive and move on.
"And whenever you
stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your
Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not
forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." Mark
11:25-26, NKJV
May your heart choose
the path of life. Even as He has forgiven you and me, we too need to daily be forgivers
and life changers.
The world knows no
different but to hate and pass it on. We know to love, and must pass that on.
Now think on this, and
see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.
Ahava and shalom,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People,
Inc.
On Friday night, Aug. 2, 2019, at 7 pm, Strength For Israel will be having our monthly meeting, the 2nd one to be held in the main auditorium of The Barn, at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC. Come and celebrate the goodness of our God! Look here: Strength For Israel
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Now Think On This #437
- in the year of our Lord
07.07.19 – “Offense. Not the Football Kind” – Sunday, 3:30 pm
