Lord, Shut My Mouth - Breaking Through OffensesSample

You might be offended easily if:

Your relationships are often strained
You have several people that you’ve cut off or cut out of your life because of *them*
You make assumptions from people’s actions, words, or even facial expressions
You have high expectations
You are easily angered from people’s words
You hold on to things
You find yourself easily debating with others (like on Social Media posts with strangers)
You’re bothered by some of these examples

What does being offended do to us? Well, it turns our hearts away from God. The focus becomes what has been done to you versus what God has done for you. And what has God done for you? He’s given you FREEDOM!

When we are focused on how we are hurt or “wronged”, we aren’t focused on what is good.

We allow bitterness to creep in and take root. We lose joy. We miss opportunities to be God's vessel to serve others. Because what we focus on becomes our focus. It becomes our reality, our false sense of truth, our world.

Why do you think we allow these things to easily get to us? Usually, there is something deeper going on. Whether it’s pride, like we see with Simon judging the woman who washed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7, or jealousy, like we see with Martha and Mary in Luke 10, or insecurity and fear. Sometimes we even get offended because of triggers from past wounds, childhood circumstances, or family behaviors. And somewhere along the way, we stop believing who we are IN JESUS and instead we focus on who we aren’t, and we lose sight of what matters – the eternal perspective.

I’m not saying that our feelings aren’t valid – God gave us all the feelings. It’s what we do with them though, that shapes our hearts.

When we start to engage with God in a heavenly Eternal perspective, we can focus more on HIS words and less on other people’s words. When people use words against us, but we are walking with the Holy spirit – we can experience FREEDOM from the feelings of being offended.

Don’t get distracted by things that aren’t eternally worth it.

What if today, you experienced God’s freedom instead of holding on to things that don’t make an eternal difference?