Have you noticed an increase in the opportunities to get offended lately? Even after 25 years of marriage to my husband and I sometimes get offended by what he says. As a wife I may know he doesn’t mean something it like I took it, but still feel a huge pull to get offended. I believe in the day we are living, the days prior to the return of the Lord, there will be a greater pull than ever before to get offended. Jesus taught us in Mathew 18:7 that offenses will surly come. And in Mathew 24, when the disciples asked Jesus what the signs of His return would be He said in verse 10, “And then shall many be offended…” So we should not be surprised when we fell the pull to get offended, it is the time we are living in. The question is, how fast do I move past an offense. Jesus made it possible for us to be able to move past offenses very quickly.

I must constantly remind myself that we are in ‘the time,” the days before Jesus returns, the days that Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that there would be a great falling away. I believe the falling away is due to being offended. If your love waxes cold according to Mathew 24, you will fall away, by the way side.

So knowing all this, and being reminded of it as I write, I know when I am offended, I must quickly forgive. Forgiveness is the only answer! It is the way of escape! The quicker I forgive, the quicker I come back into my right mind. When I am offended my soul is in control, but when I forgive my spirit rises up above my soul and takes back over.

I have learned that when I am offended everything is distorted and even my emotions become out of control. When I am offended at a person I will see them in a distorted way, and bigger than they really are. Another thing I have observed about myself is when we are offended at someone we will become overly focused on them. They become the center of attention, or all you talk about for days. Every conversation even goes back somehow to what you are offended about. The offense becomes the main thing you think and talk about. The more we put our focus on who we are offended at, the more magnified they become.

This is why offenses cause our heart to wax cold, they lead us to sin against God, because He is the only one we are to magnify. When we focus on others and what they did to offend us, we make them bigger than Him.

Oh, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. (Psalm 34:3). So right now press the minimize button and minimize the person who has offended you. Bring them down to the right size and forgive them, and remember, if it were not for the grace of God you might have done the very same thing.

Written by Denise Boggs