Freedom Through Forgivenessنموونە

Forgiveness Is Not Ignoring The Offense

"And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another." - Matthew 24:10 NKJV

You will always have to deal with offense. You will likely encounter situations where you are offended, and you will also likely offend others. Nobody is perfect, so no matter how hard you try not to offend anyone, you will at some point in your life.

The more you are in a relationship with someone, whether it be personal or professional, the more you will offend them and be offended. However, this also means that there will be more opportunities for you to work through any issues that may arise.

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." - John 16:33 NLT

Again, we see that there will be trouble in this life. This includes being offended by others. There is no running away from it. You can take it to the bank—it will happen.

If we know that it is going to happen, we need to know how to respond in a way that will help us. We all have different types of responses that try to emerge, but we must know which action we want to take.

Ignoring an Offense Never Works

Just because you choose not to look at something doesn't mean that its reality will be weakened. It is still real. Stuffing bills in the drawer so that you don't have to see them doesn't help those bills get paid any faster.

Faith reminds you that God is stronger than the trial, but it doesn't minimize the reality of it.

Ignoring an offense is like closing your eyes and expecting that no one can see you because you closed your eyes. Closing your eyes is choosing not to see what’s in front of you, but it doesn't mean that the problem is not there.

I recall when it was time for me to repay my student loans. Like many people, this made my budget tight. At that time, I didn't even have a job in the field for which I had gone to school. I didn't have the money to pay the bills, so I did what many people do; I ignored the call. When you know who is calling without having the number saved, it's a clear sign that you are avoiding that call.

One day, I decided to answer and let the creditor know, "Hey, I don't have anything right now, so you can stop calling me, and I will call you." I was planning to be honest with them. However, the lovely lady on the other side surprised me and said, "Well, did you know you can apply for forbearance?" This was news to me. I didn't know of any such thing. She went on to tell me that I had options that I didn’t know about. All the options were better than ignoring the phone call.

You will get hurt in life.

You will be offended.

Some will even harm you.

No matter the situation, we are still called to forgive. Tomorrow, we will discuss facing the offense further.

We can’t forgive what we don’t face.