Release The Offense. Lesson 30 of 40

People will offend us.  That is a byproduct of living in a fallen world.  However,  I have a choice in how I will to respond to the offense.

For today’s lesson, I have learned that I must choose to release offenses.  Holding on to them and refusing to forgive can create sickness in our bodies and spirit. Furthermore, God makes it clear that if we do not forgive others, we ourselves will not be forgiven.  Here is the truth of the matter, we all stand in the need of forgiveness…ALL OF US!  We shouldn’t be hypocrites and ask of the Lord the very thing we withhold from others.

I know firsthand how difficult it can be to release an offense and forgive.  I have spent a lot of time in prayer asking the Lord to heal wounds that were caused by an offense and to help me to choose to forgive. On some occasions, I had to pray more than once because the wound went deep.  I am not proud to admit it but sometimes after praying, I would then go and share the offense with someone else.  I felt justified. That was extremely counterproductive.  The constant rehearsing of an offense was a great way to undo my prayers.

God has provided a blueprint in His word on how we are to handle offenses.  No amount of “justified” anger is worth my soul.  I have made it a habit to continuously pray and ask the Lord to make the choice to release offenses.  How about you? Is it difficult for you to forgive others and release the offense?  Leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Mathew 6:14-15  “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

 

Anika Jones

About the Author

Anika Jones

Anika Jones is a speaker and author of the book Lessons Learned Along The Way: A 40 Day Devotional. She blogs about faith and family at LivingForLater.com and posts weekly videos on her YouTube channels, Living For Later (@livingforlater) and Living Life Now (@livinglifenow). Anika loves speaking about developing intimacy with God and understanding who we are in Christ. She serves alongside her husband in ministry. They live in Illinois with their 6 children.