The Trap of Offense
Galatians 6:7-10
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."
Psalm 55:12-14
"If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God."
The text in Galatians 6 seems pretty straightforward, whatever you sow, you reap, we all understand that basic principle in our agricultural world. If you sow marigold seeds in your flowerbeds, you know there is no chance that sunflowers might pop up. In the book of Galatians Paul writes about the nature of our Christian life, how Christ has set us free and how to live that out in our lives and with one another. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1) And if we live by the Spirit, and we sow in the Spirit, we will bear His fruit.
Every day we choose what kind of seed we sow, and whether we sow seed in our flesh, or in the Spirit. All of us desire to reap the fruit of good seed: love, joy, peace, patience, etc. But this life here on earth gets messy, doesn’t it? We desire the good fruit but often don’t sow the good seed.
We all have experienced hurt in one way or another by maybe a word spoken carelessly, things that were done to us intentionally or unintentionally. Maybe some of us have felt unspeakable pain by much deeper wounds caused by people we trusted, like David, in his lament described in Psalm 55. All of us have felt offended in small ways or significant, deep cutting ways, maybe by fellow believers. You often see the greatest rift and anger between people who were once close. Because especially those you care about can hurt you the most.
The question is, as a people set free in Christ Jesus, what do we do with these offenses. Those burdens that we carry as yokes, weighing us down. Our enemy loves to keep us trapped in this state of being offended, of victimhood. Because when we feel offended, we focus on protecting ourselves and as a result we build walls around our hearts, our focus becomes self-preservation and we might lash out to others as we ourselves have been wounded. We try to care for ourselves, and it becomes difficult to trust the Lord to care for us, and we forget that we have been set free! Free from the bond of slavery, the sin of harboring resentment and bitterness in our hearts, for which Christ so dearly paid. He calls us to sow the love of God, even in the lives of those who have offended us. And what is better yet, He empowers us to do that.
The good seed, the seed sown in the Spirit is the seed of love, that Christ lived out here on earth. He didn’t defend his own rights. “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!” Phil 2:6-8.
Let us fully embrace the love of Christ that has set us free. To increase our faith in His love, so that we are empowered to overcome the offenses of others.
Prayer:
"O Lord give us the power to take down the walls around our hearts, that we may fully and unconditionally love others. We pray that Your love may flow through us. That it will be our focus and not how others treat us. Help us to put our trust in You and not in our flesh, in Jesus precious Name. Amen."