Thursday, 12 December
Memory Verse: Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Colossians 3:13
MORE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 10:32
32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
You cannot go to play at the river and then complain when someone splashes water on you. It is impossible to play at the river and not get splashed with water. In relating with people in any community, one of the things that we cannot avoid is being offended. Whether at home, school, work or church, people will do things that we do not like. The reason is that everybody cannot behave the same way in a community. Offences result from differences in behaviour. Has someone ever done things and you wonder how on earth anyone could behave like that? Well, the reason is because he is not you; if he were you, he would never behave like that. People are different and so they will behave differently.
The Lord Jesus Himself in Luke 17:1, said unto His disciples, ...It is impossible but that offences will come.... He realized that there will always be people who will offend us. Therefore our quest is not to look for a place where we will not be offended but to seek to live above offences. Do you know that one cannot be offended until he decides to take offence? You can refuse to take offence when it is offered to you. The New Living Translation of Colossians 3:13 says, Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
We must learn to make allowance for people around us. Give room to people when they do things that you do not like. Probably you like quietness while he likes noise and turbulence wherever he is; you have to learn how to make room now that both of you are roommates or else you will fight every day. Life is about recognising people for who they are and learning to overlook their faults.
Everyone loves to hear that he is a rare gem who is unique and uncommon in every way. It is pleasing to know that no other person in the whole earth has the same fingerprints as yours; you are specially and wonderfully made. The other side of this pleasant news is that no one else is like you so they will not behave like you. Therefore, grow up out of complaining that a person behaved in such and such a way. If you insist on relating with only people that are like you then you will relate only with yourself.
On the other hand, there are people who delight in causing offence and then claim, 'That is who I am; you must learn to live with me.' The truth is that no one causes offence anyhow and goes scot-free. People around may be spiritually mature enough to overlook it but the one involved will suffer the consequence ahead. We should not take offence and we should not cause offence.
Prayer/Action
* Pray against the spirit of offences.
* Pray that the love of God will guide you at all costs and at all times.
* Ask God for a fresh spirit of love to stay above offences.
TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: On this twelfth day of the twelfth month; I dispatch monitoring angels of the throne of heaven to supervise the rest days of this year for defence and victory, in the wonderful name of Jesus.
0 comments:
Post a Comment