Defending the Offended

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION... I KNOW I PROMISED I WOULD SHARE MY THOUGHTS ON DAVID TODAY... BUT GOD HAD A DIFFERENT PLAN.


Today I will write about something that is deserved by no one, afforded to everyone , recieved by  many,  reciprocated by a  few and often withheld from all the rest ... FORGIVENESS




Forgiveness = An absoultion , pardon, acquittal, exoneration, dispensation or reprise. In other words to forgive someone is to restore them to a place as if they had never offended you.


Offense = A sin or crime, to cause resentment, anger, displeasure or hurt. To attack yourself or another in such a manner that would cause them to be violated to a point of retaliation.



Defense=Resistance, protection, safeguarding, precaution, stand or to preserve. In other words it is the act of taking a stand on behalf of yourself or another to prevent one from being hurt.














Many of us have heard the sermons, read the scriptures, preached it to one while withholding from another. forgive, forgive forgive ... Honestly if it was that easy we would not have such a hard time doing it ... forgiving someone says I am letting you as well as myself off the hook for what  transpired.

It is interesting to me that we often forget this is the VERY reason Jesus Christ came to this earth... ( Matthew 1:21)  To save the people from their sins.. i. e. to FORGIVE. Humanity is all for justice when it is the victim , but for the death penalty  when it concerns another person. How does one hold back the very thing they need most in their lives ?... Sometimes we feel a person has to deserve forgiveness,  NO  we deserve death but God in His infinite wisdom and mercy said... I am going to give them what they need, not what they have earned because of disobedience... (Romans 6:23)

You may be saying , but you don`t know what they did and how that made me feel... and to a certain extent you are right in saying, but I do know what betrayal feels like because I have done it,  first to God and then to people... I truly believe people treat God like they treat other human beings... Some of us ignore God, so we ignore people, some of us have lied to God, so we lie to people, some of us  , if we are honest are mad at God which in turn makes us mad at people.... but  what if we did a self examination  only to find that we are mad at ourselves.


We think at times it is up to us to fulfill our destiny , this is only partly true... how can you fulfill something you didn`t even have the power to start ?...  As a child we had to pray a prayer that said "now I lay me down to sleep"..., who lays themselves down to sleep without God intervening ? .... guess that`s another blog for another day ... Many say I am gonna get myself together and then I will follow God , in actuality you are already following , you are following the god with a little g, that makes you think you are in control of your life instead of following Him who was lead to a cross to die that you may live.

Scriptures states in Matthew 18:7... Woe to the world because of offenses ! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offenses come... what is Jesus saying ?....It is inevitable that offenses would occur due to the current state of the world , the lust of the flesh and the Devil at work in the earth. But woe to him who yields his body as an instrument to be used in Satan`s symphony. So do whatever is ever necessary to discipline yourself to resist this temptation.



Verse 15 goes on to speak of what happens when you do give in... He gives us clear instruction on how to rectify the situation...Go to your brother and keep it between the two of you !.. if he listens , well done , problem solved.




But if he does not hear, take 2 or more witnesses, if he so refuses to still heed ; tell it to the church. after all this is done and he still does not want to conform, let him be as a heathen.



I believe the problem for us is ; first off  most of us will not go to the person who offended us we run and tell that... to the first person who will listen... secondly we tell 2 or more but not for the sake of reconciliation but for character assassination, so by now there is no need to take it to the church because its all over the church... the grapevine has produced "sour grapes" which has turned into "whine" because we have trampled on one another instead of squashing the matter in decency and in order. Lastly the person who may have gone home to their secret place and repented and was going to apologize at Wednesday night bible study, no longer has to  be kicked out the church because now the  offender has become offended and has left the building on their own.


 Christ instructs about how many "times" we must forgive . He gives us a number while at the same   not really  giving us a number . His declaration is to do it as many times as YOU need to. To who has been forgiven much ; can forgive much, happy people, draw happy people, angry people draw, angry people, broken people, draw broken people... truth be told we are all forgiven people who have  lied, been lied to , ignored, done the ignoring, angry ,broken humans whose only desire  in the words of Mary. J Blige is to... be happy.

In closing I would like to say I no longer have the desire nor strength to throw stones at others because my hands are too full of my own rocky situations...

Love you to Life
Tina...