How To Overcome Being Easily Offended

The Bible has a lot to say about offences. In Matthew 24:10 Jesus says one of the signs of the last days would be in the fact that many would be offended.

Matthew 24:10 (Amplified Bible) 10And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.

You and I as born again, sanctified, spirit filled believers, have the ability and the authority under the signet of the blood covenant to overcome offences, and to be victors in this battle against our souls!

Offence - a violation or breach of a law, custom, rule, etc. / a lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others

Too many people in the body of Christ are standing paralyzed on the outskirts of the valley of victory, because the enemy is shouting out offences from the other side.

All too many preachers are putting away their Bibles/coat & ties, never to fill another pulpit again, all because somehow, somewhere, they were offended and wounded in their souls.

Nothing in life starts big: the same with offence. An offence always starts as a thought, and thoughts are seeds, that enter your mind. Seeds of offence are the beginning of developments of offence in our lives. But we have the ability to refuse the thought or uproot the seed before an offence is fully-grown in the garden of our hearts.

OFFENCE IS A SPIRITUAL SEED - There are four ways those seeds get sown into us:

What others said to us - All some people ever heard in their lives were cutting and abrasive words. Sarcastic speeches that pierces like a sword. Sarcastic people can cut you to pieces with their tongue.

What others did not say to us - You could be offended because you don’t feel appreciated. No one ever says thank you to you or compliments your effort.

What others did to us (negative actions and reactions) – Selfish Actions and humiliating experiences can cause the seed of offence to germinate in our hearts.

What people didn’t do for us (favor or assistance we did not receive)

This seed produces a ROOT OF BITTERNESS (James 3:14-16) and after this bad weed grows it will produce the FRUIT OF RESENTMENT (Matt. 12:33-35, Hebrews 12:15)

Whenever the seed of the offence is sworn into you and you allow it to germinate into bitterness, with all the emotions in display, the fruit will always be resentment. This comes out of you in two ways:

What you say – People that are under a spirit of offence are usually critical, aggressive, and they are always ready to judge everyone else around them. Offense is a spiritual weed that has to be come out of our lives.

What you do – People that are controlled by offense do what the Bible calls “the works of the flesh” In Galatians, chapter five, Paul lists seventeen things as "works of the flesh" and nine things as "fruit of The Spirit. He says that flesh and Spirit are in conflict. And he urges us to live by The Spirit and not by the flesh.

A. What Offences Represent In Our Lives

Luke 17:1 He said to His disciples, ‘It is inevitable that stumbling blocks (offences) come, but woe to him through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

The Greek word translated “stumbling block” in this verse is “skandalon”, where we get the word scandal. It means “offense, stumbling block, or occasions to fall.” In other words, when we are offended, the door is open for us to stumble. This word “skandalon” originally described a small piece of wood that was used to keep the door of an animal trap propped open. A piece of food was placed in the trap and when the animal went into it to get the food, it would it the wood and the trap door would close shut trapping the animal. In the New Testament times this word was also referred to as a “stone or obstacle that causes one to trip, to stumble, and to lose his footing, to waver, to falter and to fall down.”

In these verses Jesus makes it plain that we will have the opportunity to become offended at some point in our lives. When we offend, or are offended, the offense hinders our ability (becomes a stumbling block) to do what God has called us to do. For example, when someone becomes offended with another person, they often times will withdraw from that person and if needed, would not reach out to help the person who offended them. Although the world may say the person is “justified” in not reaching out to the one who offended them, it is not God’s way.