I will not be offended…

A few weeks back I attended our women’s retreat with our church. Bo Stern, the author of Beautiful Battlefields, was our speaker and boy did she have a message to share!

Luke 7:20-23 NASB
20 When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’”
21 At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.
22 And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
23 Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

John the baptist is in prison and his followers go to Jesus to tell Him… probably thinking that, if Jesus is who John the baptist says He is then He will get John out.

He doesn’t.

Instead, Jesus tells them that John knows who Jesus is. He knows that He is GOD… and then exhorts them by telling them to not be offended by what God is doing and how He does it.

whoah.

I have a choice with how I am going to respond to the things my Lord is doing in my life and around me. I can choose to be angry and bitter by how I am treated in this world… or about my circumstances… and according to the world’s standards, I might very well be right to choose that.

But HE is God.
I am not.

“You are God and we will bless you…
Even if the healing doesn’t come.”

Will I be offended even if the healing doesn’t come?

vs. 23: “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”