Avoiding the trap

Add caption
Last week, I was speaking on my favourite verse (John 14:1), and I wanted to follow on from that thought.    In Chapters 14 and 15 it's like Jesus is giving a list of last minute instructions to the disciples.  He went on in John 16:1 to say that he told the disciples 'these things' so they might not be offended!!

That word 'offended' comes from the Greek word "scandalizo".  It means to entrap, trip up or stumble.



Offence is a real problem in the world today, but this problem has become an issue in Christian circles too.

Jesus warned us that offences would come (Matthew 18:7), but when we let offence into our hearts, we set ourselves our trap.

When someone offends us, we have a choice.   The trap is, that if we let the offence take root in our hearts, it entraps us in a cycle that will certainly produce fruit in our lives; sadly, the crop will harvest only bitterness, frustration, anger and a critical spirit.  Offence becomes a filter through which we will view life; it becomes our focus. 

Proverbs says "a froward (distorted, false, crooked) heart finds no good thing".   I used to think this meant that such a person wouldn't have any good thing in their life, but I think that it means that because their heart is twisted, they can't see good in anything any more.  When we allow offence to take root, it stops us from seeing good, and makes our lives miserable.

Offences come, but what you do with them; that is your choice.

Last week I spoke of the choice we each have to let our hearts be troubled or not, and today I want to challenge you for another choice.   We can chose to let offences go, or to hold onto them.

Psalms 119:165 says "Great peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend them." I believe the word 'law' in this chapter consistently refers to the Word of God. It is possible to love God's Word so much, that we can stay in that peace (wellness, happiness, prosperity, health, rested, whole).  Jesus Christ is the Living Word!   We can be so in love with Lord that we don't get offended. 
So how to we get to that place?    The way we fall in love - we spend time; we get to know Jesus through the written Word.   When we see how much we are loved, when we see how much Jesus has done for us, and when we see who we are in Him, I think it's pretty impossible not to love Him.  When we are in that place of security, the offences that come can be released, so that they never have chance to produce that bad fruit.





Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teabags and Popcorn!

Image
So, I was eating popcorn yesterday and drinking a fruit tea and I started wondering what makes a popcorn pop! (As you do). With a little help from Google, I found out that inside the kernel, the hard shell, there is a little bit of moisture and when it heats up inside, it turns to steam and as you keep heating it up, the pressure from the steam builds and builds until it cracks open the hard exterior and makes a yummy snack. And then I thought about my teabag (I do promise there will be a spiritual application to this, not just information on my food and drink habits).  The label had come off the teabag, so I didn't know exactly what flavour it was, until I poured on the boiling water and tasted it! As promised... the spiritual bit!  We are like teabags and popcorn!  This is a deep spiritual truth!  Really it is!  Read on and I'll explain why! Firstly we are like popcorn because when heated up, whatever we stir up inside us will burst out.  We're also like teabags too.  We
Read more

Take it!

Image
This week I have been thinking about the 10 spies that they sent out to view the promised land.  You probably don't remember the names of 8 of them!   The other two were of course Joshua and Caleb.    In the book of Numbers we see that Moses sent out these 10 men off to spy out the land that God had promised them.  They were to check it out and see what kind of place it was, what kind of people lived there and bring back some produce from the land. Well, if you know the story they brought back some figs, pomegranates and a bunch of grapes so big it had to be carried between two men!   It was a good land (no surprise there, seeing as God had told them it was good).  But when they got back 8 of the spies told the people "Well, it's a good land, but the people that live there included giants and all sorts of people that are really strong' I can imagine that all Israel gasped in horror or shock. Each person murmuring to his neighbour about how awful the situation was. In t
Read more

Looking back

Image
This week I was listening to a message and I was reading the verse in Luke 17:32 which simply says " Remember Lot's wife ."   This is a really interesting statement. When Jesus tells us to consider something or remember something we should pay attention. So what do we know about Lot's wife?  Not a lot really.  But what we do know is that an angel of the Lord took her by the hand to lead her out of the city before God destroyed it.  She was told to run for her life and not look back.  According to Genesis 19, she ran but she turned and look back and as a result, turned to a pillar of salt.  This short verse really spoke to me for a number of reasons.    The Apostle Paul tells us " I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. "  (Phil 3:13 TPT) Since 2020, it's like we have a new category in history BC now stands for BEFORE COVID! People a
Read more