Are You Offended?

CALL TO PRAYER

By: Stephen Osei Kuffour

Date: 14.04.2024

Title: Are You Offended?

Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

(Colossians 3:13 NKJV)

During the Covid-19-time, one couple who used to be regular in Church, stopped coming. At first, we thought it was because of their fear of getting infected by the virus in Church. Therefore, we decided to pay them a visit and encourage them to overcome their fear. However, when we visited, they said that one brother in the Church has offended them and that’s why they have stopped coming to Church. We shared the word with them and tried to encourage them to return to Church but to no avail. Long story short, they have backslid and divorced not long ago.

The truth is that offense will by all means come (Luke 17:1). You could be offended by your mother, father, uncle, aunt, husband, wife, children, friend, teacher, boss, etc. You could be offended at home, school, workplace, church, etc. You will definitely be offended, and I can say this with a lot of confidence. Why is it so? This is because we are living in a world full of imperfect people. Imperfect people make mistakes and will surely offend one another.

I have realized that most people are surprised when they are offended by another in the Church. This is due to how they perceive the Church. They see the Church as a perfect place filled with spiritually mature Christians but that is not always the case. The Church is like a hospital. When you go the hospital, you will find people whose sicknesses are severe, those who are at the midpoint of recovery and those who are almost recovered and about to be discharged.

In the same way, when you come to the Church, you will find those who just got saved, those at midpoint of maturity and some spiritually mature people. Most people I met gave excuses of the imperfections of others as the reason they left the church. Meanwhile, these people are nowhere near perfect.

It is important that we are not ignorant of the strategies of the evil one (2 Cor 2:11). One of the strategies of the enemy is Isolation. He wants to isolate you from the fellowship with other Believers and deal with you. This is because he knows that you are much stronger in fellowship (Eccl 4:9-12). One thing that fellowship does is that it strengthens our faith. The enemy knows this and that’s why he will try all his possible best to isolate you. One of the weapons he uses is offense.

Beloved in the Lord, we will surely be offended since we are living with imperfect people. The evil one uses offense as a weapon to isolate Believers from fellowship with Brethren so he can destroy them. Knowing this, let’s forgive anyone who offends us and strive to love one another and live at peace with all men. We are not ignorant of the devices of the enemy!

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His Word today. Let’s ask God to help all Believers to forgive anyone who offends us and strive to love one another and live at peace with all men.

God bless you all.