Those Who Are Impossible
by Molly Wingard
Many believers are trapped, they sit behind walls of deep-seated anger. The devil, is seeking war against God's children. The devil has so many believers to where they can't move. Many have taken themselves out of the race of life, waiting for a day to clear from accusation or blame.
We've all met people whose careful and repeated wrongs make them bitter and they are unwilling to forgive. Jesus knew that we as humans would hurt each other, either intentionally or unintentionally. He knew that some would lead others astray because of false doctrine and views of life. Matthew 18:7 AMP says, "Woe to the world for such temptations to sin and influences to do wrong! It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the person on whose account or by whom the temptation comes!" Jesus warned the disciples about 2 ways to cause others to sin: tempting them (Matthew 18:7-9) and neglecting or demeaning them (Matthew 18:10-14). We are to help young people or new believers avoid anything or anyone that could cause them to stumble in their faith and lead them to sin. We must never take lightly the spiritual education and protection of the young in age or young in faith.
The word "offense" means (1) an act of stumbling; a cause or occasion of sin; (2) something that outrages the moral or physical senses; (3) the act of attacking.
Matthew 16:23 AMP says, "But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men." Jesus heard the message that he could achieve greatness without dying when He was in the wilderness temptation. Here Jesus heard the same thing from Peter. He forsook God's perspective and evaluated the situation from the human side. Satan is always trying to get us to leave God out of the picture. Jesus rebuked Peter for this attitude.
Jesus did not fall into Peter's trap, but sometimes we fall into the Devil's trap of bitterness or a misperception of ourselves. Yet, offenses we refuse to give up not only injure us emotionally, but they have the potential to exact an spiritual toll. If not put behind us, they can have eternal effect given or exerted in return.
Unless we see our own failures, we will never be able to deal with the failures of others. Unless we are willing to be honest about our own sins, we will always overreact to the sins of others. Churches, marriages, and believers are stalled in their spiritual tracks because they have not properly responded to the offenses. Satan likes to keep us bound with bitterness, defensive, hard, critical, and selfish.
How much time is needed to heal wounds? Some people keep their wound as fresh as it was the day it happened. For them, time does not heal because the offense is nourished, kept fresh by the mind. Offenses can be a powerful instruments of Satan. Such offenses can debilitate you and keep you struggling and render you ineffective as a Child of God.
Can an offense be overcome? Can that injury be healed and a life be restored? The answer is yes. But only through the grace and forgiveness of Christ can anyone find lasting deliverance and healing from the binding power of an offense.
Act 24:16 AMP says, "Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men."
“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible."
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