offended
I'm listening to Bill Johnson's sermon of the week and he's touching on this issue of getting or being offended at or with God and I think it's so profound or important that I've got to write something here.
Can you get your mind around how the people in Jesus lifetime were offended with him? It seems hard at first when you're thinking of the Jesus who is your personal favorite. I mean, you might have a caricature of him or a persona you project on him that you just love. But the real, authentic Jesus might offend you at times. This seems so paradoxical because Jesus is such a good person. God is love and Jesus is God, right? Then how in the world could you or I get offended with him?
I think the beginning of the answer is that the problem is on our end- sorry. We always have to be careful to get out of the "God seat" (throne). Being God means you know what's best, and you know the future and can see everything. Not being God means you don't have these abilities and if you believe in God, it's a good idea to let God be God and not try to be God your self. It's as simple as that, but we confuse things and complicate things when we start to (mentally) sit on the throne reserved only for God.
So, being in relationship with God, like in seeing God as your salvation and the almighty to be worshiped by you, for example. This means that you will serve him or her no matter what and see God as ultimately good and call out to God for justice and goodness, rether than being offended at God for stuff that happens that God, being God, allows (to happen).
Back to Bill's message, based on Matthew 13 and Mark 6: it's tragic that when people get offended with God that they themselves cut themselves off from the benefits of God's intervention in theirs lives.
Can you get your mind around how the people in Jesus lifetime were offended with him? It seems hard at first when you're thinking of the Jesus who is your personal favorite. I mean, you might have a caricature of him or a persona you project on him that you just love. But the real, authentic Jesus might offend you at times. This seems so paradoxical because Jesus is such a good person. God is love and Jesus is God, right? Then how in the world could you or I get offended with him?
I think the beginning of the answer is that the problem is on our end- sorry. We always have to be careful to get out of the "God seat" (throne). Being God means you know what's best, and you know the future and can see everything. Not being God means you don't have these abilities and if you believe in God, it's a good idea to let God be God and not try to be God your self. It's as simple as that, but we confuse things and complicate things when we start to (mentally) sit on the throne reserved only for God.
So, being in relationship with God, like in seeing God as your salvation and the almighty to be worshiped by you, for example. This means that you will serve him or her no matter what and see God as ultimately good and call out to God for justice and goodness, rether than being offended at God for stuff that happens that God, being God, allows (to happen).
Back to Bill's message, based on Matthew 13 and Mark 6: it's tragic that when people get offended with God that they themselves cut themselves off from the benefits of God's intervention in theirs lives.
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