Monday, June 20, 2011

Shake It Off!

“Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes”!       Matthew 18:7  NKJV 

We all have a choice to make when we are faced with an offense.

If we choose to be offended we will eventually turn sour with bitterness, jealousy, hatred and strife.

Offense is a powerful tool the enemy uses against our emotions to contaminate our heart.

One of the many lessons the Holy Spirit has been teaching me is that we have a choice to confront those who offend us and/or we can learn to forgive and forget.

In the learning process one of the first steps is to learn to talk with the person, if possible, regarding the offense.  Whether or not they ask you to forgive them or turn the situation around to make it your fault you still have to forgive.  In a situation as such you are still presented with the choice to forgive or leave angry.

We have all experienced these types of situations and know all too well how the scenario goes.

Forgiveness is the next step to walk deeper into maturity with Christ.

Can we forgive and forget without confronting the person who caused the offense?

Are we able to recognize the offense and shake it off by turning it over to Jesus without harboring ill feelings?

The Holy Spirit has been teaching me how important this step is in order to help others with inner healing from wounds of the past.   There are a lot of damaged emotions from our past that will probably never be addressed by the offender seeking forgiveness.   We must learn how to forgive without always seeking forgiveness from the offender.

Jesus taught us how He forgave without taking an offense from the Religious leaders of His time.   He was able to stay focused on the Father’s business, shake off the offense and keep walking.

Many times He has reminded me of the scripture that says to “shake the dust off your feet” and keep walking.   (Luke 9:5)

So whenever I encounter an offense I can hear the Holy Spirit say, “Shake it off and keep walking”. 

Recently, I was visiting my niece and her family.   As we were visiting she shared how they were teaching their two year old son to “shake it off” when he would get a little bruise or bump.  Of course, if he was hurt he could cry but not over every little bump a two year old would encounter.

I knew within my spirit this was a confirmation from the Holy Spirit of the phrase He had been teaching me.

During my visit, I was preparing to take my great nephew for a stroller ride.  As we walked out the door in his excitement to go he missed a step and was falling face down the steps.   I was able to grab the back of his shirt to save him from hitting his face but was not able to prevent the two big ‘raspberries’ he got on his legs from the cement steps.   As I picked him up I saw giant tears in his beautiful blue eyes.  In my mind I could hear my niece saying, “Shake it off” but while looking at her baby I just did not think I could say it.   However, I did hear myself nervously tell him  to ‘shake it off’ but quickly retorted with “baby…..you can cry, you deserve to cry, I know it hurt”.    He looked so intently at me and then said, “No, I shake it off”.

I gave him a big hug and placed him in the stroller and went looking for a place to buy him some ice cream.  (That always seems to help).

The Holy Spirit said to me, “See, even if we deserve to cry over an offense we can still shake it off and turn it over to Jesus”.    We have a choice to cry, feel sorry for ourselves, take an offense or shake it off and trust Jesus to handle the situation.

Our choice will determine our maturity level in Christ and how much we really trust Him to handle the situations in our life and how protective we are with our heart.

The alternative is to take an offense and become brittle and bitter.

“…. Jesus concluded,
That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart”.    Matt.18:35  GNT


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