Offended and Offending

I am going to share an experience I have recently had. I will try to make it as anonymous as possible but if you are close to the situation you will know what I am talking about. If you do know about the situation then you just might be the one to be able to point out error to the party in the wrong.

Let me begin by asking a couple of questions.

1. Have you ever been hurt by someone?

2. Have you ever hurt someone?

To be honest I have experienced both and within the recent year. What should you do when you are hurt by someone? In Matthew 18: 15-20 we are told by Jesus: "If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love. 

"Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there."

And in Matthew 5: 23-24 Jesus tells us: "This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God."

I believe from these two scriptures we can get the picture that Jesus takes offending and being offended by someone very seriously. In both cases He tells the offender and the offended to seek out the other person.

Sometimes we come to a crossroad and we have to choose which way to go. One turn leads to being controlled by the other person and the other turn leads to me being released to move forward. We may have apologized for our behavior and we have explained to the other person how they have hurt us. Their response in both cases might not be favorable. That is why we stand at a cross road.

We have to understand part of the reason they refuse to acknowledge us has to do with their own insecurities and fears. 

It is my belief that once we have forgiven the offending party healing can begin in our lives and in the lives of others. I believe God wants us to be healed of the wounds that we have caused and that have been done to us. I base this on  2 Corinthians 5: 19 "namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

My question for you today is: "What offenses do you need to release others from or do you need to be released from?" I encourage you to drop what you are doing and find that person you have offended and seek forgiveness or seek out that person who has offended you and gently point out how they have hurt you. Then lay whatever it is at the feet of Jesus and get up and walk away from it leaving it with Him.