Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.” Psalm 119:165
People who want to live powerful lives must become experts at forgiving those who offend and hurt them. When someone hurts my feelings or is rude and insensitive to me, I find it helpful to quickly Say, “I will not be offended.” I have to say those words quietly in my heart if the person is still in my presence, but later when the memory of what he or she did returns to haunt me, I repeat them aloud. When I say, “I will not be offended,” I always pray for God to help me, realizing that] can do nothing without Him. 50 once again, “I pray and I say!”
My husband, Dave, has always been difficult to offend. When he is around people Who could hurt him or in situations where he could be offended, he says, “I am going to let those negative People control my mood. They have problems and they are not going to give their problem to me.”
On the other hand, I spent many years getting my feelings hurt offense, but I am not willing to live that way any longer. I am busy getting a new mind–set. are you willing to join me in becoming a person who is hard to offend?
If so, you will open the door to more peace and joy than you have ever known before.
Developing the mind–set that you are a person who is difficult to offend will make your life much more pleasant. People are every. where and you never know what they might say or do. Why give the control of your day to other people? Being hurt and offended does not change the people, it only changes us. It makes us miserable and steals our peace and joy, so why not prepare ourselves mentally not to fall into Satan’s trap?
Will You Take the Bait?
There is no doubt about it. As long as we are in the world and around people, we will have opportunities to be offended. The temptation to become hurt, angry, or offended comes just as surely as any other temptation comes, but jesus said we should pray that we will not give in to temptation (see Matthew 26:41). Praying that temptation won’t present itself to us does no good, but we can choose to take it or leave it. The same is true with offense. Author and speakerjohn Bevere calls offense “the bait of Satan,” and I couldn’t agree more. In his introduction to the book by this name, he writes:
One of [Satan’s] most deceptive and insidious kinds of bait is something every Christian has encountered-offense. Actually, offense itself is not deadly. . .But if we pick it up and consume it and feed on it in our hearts, then we have become offended. Offended people produce much fruit, such as hurt, anger, outrage, jealousy, resentment, strife, bitterness, hatred, and envy. Some of the consequences of picking up an offense are insults, attacks, wounding, division, separation, broken relationships, betrayal, and backsliding.
As you can see, alloWing ourselves to become offended is very Serious and has devastating consequences. Satan will not stop tempting us to be offended, but we are the ones who choose whether or not to bite the bait.
One of the signs of the last days prior to Jesus’ return is that offense will increase.
And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. (Matthew 24:10)
Rudeness, quick tempers, and holding grudges seem to be very common today. People don’t realize that they are playing right into the devil’s hands when they allow these negative and poisonous emotions to rule them. Let us think of Becca, a young Christian who is making progress growing in Christ when suddenly something happens at her church that offends her. Becca had hopes of being chosen to sing in the choir but for some reason she got passed 'over. Satan takes advantage of the situation and fills her mind with all kinds of thoughts that are not even true. Becca begins to focus on what she imagines to be an attack of rejection, and she receives it as a personal attack instead of simply trusting God. The offense becomes a stumbling block to her and, as the Scripture above says. she begins to fall away from what should be important to her. which is growing in her relationship with God. Sadly, this scenario
is repeated over and over in the world today. Sometimes I think we have more people in the world who are angry and offended than those who are not.
Satan is fishing all the time hoping to catch someone in his trap; don’t take his bait! Start meditating on and saying, “I am difficult to offend.”
Why is “the bait of Satan” a good term for offense? What kinds of “bait” does Satan like to use with you?
