2 Corinthians 2: 5 Now, if anyone has made
somebody sad, he has not done it to me but to all of you—in part, at least. (I
say this because I do not want to be too hard on him.) 6 It is enough that this
person has been punished in this way by most of you. 7 Now, however, you should
forgive him and encourage him, in order to keep him from becoming so sad as to
give up completely. 8 And so I beg you to let him know that you
really do love him. 9 I wrote you that letter because I wanted
to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to
obey my instructions. 10 When you forgive people for what they
have done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive—if, indeed, I need to forgive
anything—I do it in Christ's presence because of you, 11 in order to keep Satan from
getting the upper hand over us; for we know what his plans are.
============
Seeing the car dart
in front of me gave me offense. I couldn’t do anything about it, so I carried
that offense down the road. I missed the light I usually made and when I got to
the parking lot I could see a car slip into my usual spot. I was offended. In
many meetings, people kept saying offensive things like asking for the day off
when we had a lot of work to do. Everyone was pretty offensive that day.
- I had a day that I wanted to be angry.
- I had a day that I carried one offense to the next.
- I had a day that I was looking for fights and I easily found them.
Paul writes about a
specific person who offended many. He did not justify the offenders actions,
nor did he say the punishment given was too harsh. He did however limit the offense
time for a greater purpose. He wants people to forgive to keep the offender
from giving up completely after receiving reasonable punishment. Causing people
to give up is a plan of Satan.
My Observations
- When I get offended, GOD wants me to take a moment to give it to HIM.
- When I get offended, GOD wants me to see if it is a tactic of Satan to throw me off my praise.
- When I get offended, GOD wants me to understand that forgiveness is the only way from the bondage of hate to the freedom of love.
Love sets me free. I
mean, when I set my prayers on the offender, I must realize that I am going to
the thrown of GOD. I have two choices; “Hurt my offender” OR “Forgive my offender.”
The latter of the two is the choice GOD wants me to make all the time, because
HE did the same for me.
But this is not
easy. It sometimes takes a little time and maturity to forgive. Quite honestly,
sometimes it doesn’t happen. BUT GOD understands that too. The more I can
forgive, the freer I can be. I am glad GOD can make my days stress free when I
let go of offenses. HE also enables me to sleep by not being offended.
Challenge
- What do you notice about the offender in this passage?
- Have you ever messed up so bad that you needed to be forgiven?
- Does your offended state offend others?
- What offenses can you let go of so you can be free as CHRIST has set you free?
No comments:
Post a Comment