Offended - Im Learning To Let It Go
I have been upset. I have been angry. I have been unsettled. We’ve all be there and done that.
These are all horrible places to just sit in, dwell on, and be consumed with. The smallest nonsensical thing can offend on a bad day, and sometimes a good one. Why? Why do we, (I), have to take offense so easily to the slightest of things? I know it is easier to forgive when a harsh word or gesture comes from an acquaintance. Forgiveness becomes increasingly difficult when the one that hurt you was one you deeply care for.
This is such a nasty trap of the enemy. This is one of the sickest ones to me honestly, probably because it has imprisoned me many a time.
Do you want to know what the sickest part of this offense trap is? Its purpose is to derail, distract, and disrupt you. Keeping you paralyzed in the past act. Unable to truly rid your heart, soul, and mind of the pandemonium going on inside.
That is pretty dark and heavy, but alas. There is a better way.
Forgiveness.
“How can we just forgive when they won’t even attempt to be apologetic?” God did. ”But this situation was different. You don’t understand what they have done and said! I mean, they really hurt my feelings.” God understands.
I am ashamed to admit the number of times I have ALLOWED myself to take offense and then stay imprisoned by the grip offense had on my heart. It’s almost comical. Who am I to hold resentment in my heart? Who am I to hold onto anger after the sun goes down? He freely gave me grace, so why can’t I do the same?
Proverbs 12:15-16 - Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others. A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted.
I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be considered a fool in the eyes of God.
This past Sunday’s message at our local church was about negative and positive pathways created in your mind. We may walk this same destructive path every time someone says something that stings and this negative pathway leads you to take the words that were said as truth. You hold resentment. A lot of the time, what was said was not even true at all, but it still hurt that they feel this way. You are offended they even thought this. It almost becomes your nature you have walked this path so many times. It is a pattern. A natural reaction for you.
It isn’t natural though. In fact, it is very unnatural and not of God to constantly react and think this way.
The thing is, the devil has no dominion over your mind. He is good at planting disruptive and destructive seeds, but he has no authority there. This can go for anything and any specific way of thinking. There are good and bad pathways. You can have different patterns going on that are destructive and you just think it’s just the way you are. Not True. We have the responsibility to submit our minds to the Lord DAILY. We have the power to direct our own thoughts. What you feed your mind, your mind will produce. Are you constantly downing yourself? Convincing yourself of these negative and divisive lies? You have done it for so long now that it has become a pathway. Fear, anxiety, doubt, anguish, and lust are a few off the top of my head.
These are LIES. Not truth and not of the Lord. God is so so very good and gracious. He is not divisive and not fear-driven. He is loving and cares about your feelings and the things you go through. He walks hand and hand with you through every season and everything goes before him. He has been walking with me on this long long path I chose to take myself. It could have been a lot easier, but I can say I have learned from this.
God has pointed out a negative pathway in my mind that he did not ordain to be there. I am going to speak life, not death. Forgive quickly, rather than resent. Renew my mind daily to the things of God and not the words of the world. I am going to be led by God’s word, not by my emotions. My emotions will not be the lord of my life. Is there a negative pathway in your mind right now? Ask God to show you.
I know sometimes I will forget, but I pray God gently reminds me of these things I have written. I don’t know who needed to read this, but these were the words that have been on my heart and mind for some time now. This is what I would normally put in a journal but I felt led to share. I hope this finds you well.
Comments