Being offended is a subject that I have had my heart set on studying for over a week now. The scripture says in Proverbs 18:19 "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle." So a person taking on offense is a hard one to sway when it comes to their perspective on situations.
I believe when you take on an offense and let it marinate inside your heart, it is as if you are taking a cloak and placing it over your head. You can not see the situation for what it is. You can not hear when someone is speaking in a voice of reason. Offenses are what divide marriages, churches, communities, countries, and the whole world. The fact that one person did something wrong to another causes generations to go to war with another.
Have you ever seen the Hatfields and McCoys. That story is the perfect example of how an offense can divide friends and the offense can trickle down the family tree. Those men could have chosen a lifetime of peace and joy for themselves and their families if they would have just let it go. For each to admit where they were wrong, and just let it go.
I typed in Google on ways a person can be offended. What you are about to read is credited to AI if you must know. But it said people can be offended by past experiences. They can be offended by offensive remarks, actions, or behavior. Threatened honor, beliefs, or public image are some also.
This is what it said next. " Being offended is a subjective internal response to how a person interprets a situation. It's not an objective reality, and it's not something that can be proven or disproved."
This is my interpretation and perspective of the last paragraph. The way a person perceives an offense is completely based on your heart's condition. It is based upon what you have already been feeding it. The scripture clearly says that out of the heart flows the issues of life. It is based on what you allow in it. The thing that none of us understand at some points of an offense, is that the offense can be used for God's glory or Satan's mission to take down humanity. It is completely up to you. Satan wants to bait you, while God is ready to defend you. When you try to take an offense and place it in your heart, and as I said before let it marinate, it coats your heart with so much more than you had bargained for.
You are over here just trying to protect yourself from any further offenses, instead of allowing God to defend you. In doing this you cause your heart to harden. Your heart is to be like gold to God. Gold in its purest form is pliable, it is soft. When mixed with outside impurities, alloys are the technical term, then the gold becomes hard. You can't see the alloys but they are there changing the consistency of the gold.
When you allow an offense to run rampant through your mind and take root in your heart, you become hard. You become guarded. You become very defensive to everyone including God.
So let's be very observant of Satan's Baits. Let's be observant of the fact that God is for us and not against us. He sees all and knows all. He is better at seeing what can be done to show people who you are. You are God's child.
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