September 16, 2026

12 hours ago

2 min read

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PASTOR'S PEN

From the desk of Pastor Paul

Very often, there is some offense that occurs in our lives that we do not seem to get past. Many people are forever parked by some event that happened. Typically, when an offense occurs, we ruminate on it in our minds (go over and over it) and we speak of it to anyone who will listen.

When we ruminate on an offense. We throw a big party and invite “me, myself, and I,” and we hold, coddle, and nurse the offense. We play it over and over in our minds—we justify it! Which will always leave you right where it found you—at the place of the offense.

An offense is always a call to be teachable before the Lord. A great prayer to pray in that moment is, Lord, what do You want to teach me through this? What character traits do You want to build in me? What flaw do You want to address? What spiritual fruit do You want to blossom in my life out of my trial and my pain? How do you want to teach me to love through this?

I am never more Christlike than when I allow Him to help me triumph over offense. I am never more like Jesus than when I choose a forgiving spirit. Colossians 3:13 says, “Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.”

Whenever there is an offense, if I do not use it as a teachable moment before the Lord, it will always lead to spiritual bitterness. Our lives matter too much to God and to others to choose to be—and stay—offended no matter how justified we feel in the offense.