Luke 17:1 He (Jesus) said to His disciples, “Offenses will certainly come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
Jesus warned us that as long as we are alive, offenses will come. It is impossible to live as His disciples without being criticized, ostracized or penalized but He cautioned us not to become devitalized when our goodness is repaid with wickedness. Offence is the manure that makes us flourish. Manure stinks, so does offence. The effectiveness of the manure is accentuated only during the fruiting season. Similarly, offence if turned into a compost will fertilize us spiritually. A covered compost pile maintains temperature, moisture levels and restrains odor. Similarly, offence must be either binned before it decays or must be covered in the compost pit before it decomposes.
Offence must be covered with consolation from the Word of God. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”, says the Lord (Romans 12:19). God will not watch His children being abused or misused but if we start fighting our own battles or if we justify, argue or slander the offenders, God will stop fighting for us.
Three traits to turn an offense into defense:
- Revenge: A cover over the compost pile converts the waste into compost. Metaphorically, taking the offence, abuse or betrayal and covering it under the mercy of God, turns the smelly muck into useful manure. Jesus taught us the most excellent and admirable way to overcome offenses on the cross of Calvary by forgiving the callous, cruel scoundrels – Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Forgiveness overcomes the thirst for revenge.
- Revisit: Stirring and turning too often disrupts the formation of the fungi that do much of the composting work. Revisiting an offence will make it gangrenous. Take comfort that God will avenge the offenders. The Pharaoh threw the Hebrew baby boys into the river Nile to feed his crocodiles but a few decades later, the Pharaoh suffered the ten plagues that left his kingdom devastated. Exodus 10:7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him,..”Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?” Revisiting wounds will insinuate revenge and dig into the offence. Leave the compost pile alone! While the suffering and stigma turns us into a better person, the Lord will avenge the offender. Resting transforms the thirst for revenge to God.
- Retribution: In order to turn lethal bitterness into ladders of promotion, do not recede or recoil. Offence can cause us to retreat from our commission if we allow it to rot in our soul. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). When we continue to plough, toil and sow seeds of goodness, we will be repaid double for our trouble. The principle of retribution operates on two levels – disgrace will be reattributed with a double portion of honour (Isaiah 61:7) and stolen blessings will be repaid sevenfold (Proverbs 6:31). Revenge gets even but retribution repays in abundance.
The weak revenge, the strong forgive but the wise turn revenge into recompense, restitution and retribution.
1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, give me the maturity to forgive the offenders before it turns into bitter revenge. Amen.
Leave a Reply