Reactionary

"He was not offended by those who intended to murder Him."

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is supposed to set us off. Us, meaning Christians. Church people. Children of God. Nothing should cause us to blow up, lose our cool, speak our mind, tell someone off, etcetera. Jesus stated this to the disciples just before He prayed His moving prayer to the Father in John 17. In John 16:1, He says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.” Now, this goes back to His words, recorded in John 15, and forward to His very next statement.

“They shall put you out of the synagogues, yeah, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God a service.” (John 16:2)

And they were not to be offended by it.

Jesus knew what He was up against on the road to the cross. He was the Christ, filled without measure with the Spirit, who had Him pretty informed by then. The Word does not say at what age He realized who He was, but we do know at age twelve, He knew the temple was His Father’s house.

God being His Father was not received revelation to the majority of the Jews. They were not even entirely aware God was three-in-one. Calling God His Father made many of them excessively angry. That they got angry shows how far away from truth they stood. The seven things God hates, found in Proverbs 6:16-19, is almost prophetic of the behavior of the Pharisees. They were filled with pride and consumed by their hatred of Him.

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” (John 5:18)

He died for them anyway, even asking for their forgiveness while He hung on the cross.

Did you capture that? He was not offended by those who intended to murder Him. He endured their mockery, their jeering, and said not a word (Isaiah 53:7). Have we done the same? Jesus told the disciples WHY they should not be offended. John 16:3 says, “And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

Anyone who causes strife is not speaking the heart of God. The reason for the argument doesn’t matter. The different opinions being voiced do not matter, even if one is right and can be found in Scripture. God’s Word is not a point of anyone’s argument. God is love. Offenses will come, we have been told (Luke 17:1). We are to be aware of it, to see it when it’s there in front of us, and to not pick it up. This means holding silent in the face of pressure, and even greater, praying for that one who has offended us.

It means repentance. “I’m sorry, God, for saying what I shouldn’t have, for being angry, for taking offense.” Psalm 119:165 tells us we are to love God so much and have His Word planted in us so deeply that we don’t ever get offended. We’re not fighting flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). We must see people from God’s perspective. He died for WHOSOEVER, whether we like them or not, and Jesus’ heart when He was headed to the cross and while He hung on the cross was love so deep, so wide, so high, and stretching so far that it had no beginning and no ending.

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

I had this experience two mornings in a row. I know why now, but at the time, I saw the face of someone who had caused a friend great harm and could not believe how much God loved them. Yet the river of God’s love, flowing from Him and around me, was unfathomable, with no ending in any direction, and I knew that He did. We humanize God the Father and God the Spirit. Jesus is human, and He was tempted in all points like we are, yet He did not sin in action, nor word, nor even in thought. At the same time, He was God, He is God, and He will always be God.

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

We do what man has done for thousands of years, carving out our own gods from wood or stone, casting them in gold, or even just fan-clubbing some human as fallible as we are. The only man we are to hero worship is Jesus Christ, who was born a Jew, a race not admired nor seen as significant in His day. In the scope of the then world’s population, He was a dot on a map. To some, a man who made a scene and died. I mean, He didn’t ride into Jerusalem, crowned King, as a warrior, leading a conquering army, neither a physical one nor a spiritual one.

But there, on a donkey, was the King of Kings, who would die because He chose to, and in dying, in raising to life three days later, would change everything. Because love on a scale mankind had never seen fueled everything He did, to the point He refused to be offended by what were very offensive actions from those who were supposed to represent Him and stand between God and the people.

God is not reactionary like us. He isn’t moody, up one minute and down the next. His plan of salvation was set before the world’s foundation. He’s that steady, that constant.

What we know doesn’t make us great. If I can quote the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, so that you can’t stump me, if I am given a doctorate for it and a position in leadership at a prestigious college, or if I build a church monolith made of gold, attended by thousands, and can string together sentences like no one before me, if in the midst of all that, I have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

I saw a video clip of a known speaker laying hands on those nearby, but though the anointing was present, the speaker’s mannerism was too harsh. I asked the Holy Spirit about this, bothered by it, and His answer was short. He loves people, and sometimes, even when we mess up, He honors what He has placed in us. I have spent much time thinking on this since then. I never want to be one He has to honor in spite of my behavior. As He has loved me, as Jesus the Savior, and the gentle Father have poured Their mercy over me, I want to see people the same way.

It gets easier the more you practice it. I’ve stopped thinking about people in certain ways. I am aware of my feelings and emotions but do not react to them. I stay silent instead, which is my nature anyway, and remind myself of what the Word says. About me. About them. Then I keep going forward.

Because as Jesus said, they do not know Him, or they wouldn’t act that way. And if I act that way, neither do I.

“But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27-28)

“For God has poured out his divine energy to provide us the Remedy that brings life and heals our minds. He invites us into friendship and unity with himself through our knowledge of Jesus, who revealed the glory of God’s true goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3, Remedy)

READ "The Way of Peace."
"For God so loved an angry, volatile world that He showed it peace and mercy they did not deserve."

Image by Chil Vera from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com