We have been discussing the root and the dangers of taking offense. In the last
Episode we saw that taking offense can hinder our spiritual life, destroy our ministries
and our relationships and even lead us to a bitter and lonely death.
Today we are going to confront the hard truth that taking offense is a choice. Yes.
People will hurt us and offend us with their words and actions. Jesus said so in Luke
17:1. But we take offense because we decided to take offense..
So let’s deliberately take the decision today to become unoffendable! And in order to
become unoffendable we have to make some resolutions and then place them at the
feet of the Holy Spirit to make them a reality in our lives.
Our first decision today, is to admit that we have a choice. You have a choice not to
take the bait. An offense is like someone wanting to pour their garbage into your sitting
room. You can open the door and let them go ahead or you can keep the door closed.
No 1 resolution is to take the responsibility for taking offense. It is to decide that we
would not blame the offender. It is to decide that I take the blame for taking the offense.
You need to resolve to take ownership of your emotions and reactions. You need to
come to terms with the fact that you take offense because you choose to take offense
and not because the offender offended you. You need to resolve that you are not so
weak that people would control your emotions and reactions by their words and actions.
So your day does not have to be ruined because someone says-you are really stupid!
You need to accept the fact that you cannot stop people from offending you, but you
can keep your heart from getting offended. You need to accept the truth that I cannot
control others but I can control myself. They say you cannot stop a bird from flying over
your head, but you can stop it from perching on your head.
Our second resolution would be to aim to feed from the word of God. Resolve to soak in
the word of God and to saturate your mind with it so that opinions and pronouncements
that contradict the word of God would cease to matter to you. Can I surprise you? Do
you know that placing the word or opinion of people above that of God is idolatry?
Idolatry is the worship of someone or something other than God. So regarding the word
or opinion of a person above the word of God is idolatry. Our second resolution is to
saturate our minds with the word of God so that people’s words and actions will no
longer dictate our mood and well-being. It is to exalt God’s thoughts and words above
everything else. I challenge you to start studying the bible more seriously from today.
Get a plan for reading the scriptures and follow it. Thank God for the social media. You
can find a thousand and one teachings of the word of God online. So we can actually
make good use of the Social media if we decide to.

Thirdly, we need to resolve to be deliberate about leaning on the power of the Spirit of
God to conquer those emotions that set us up for offense. The decision to rise above
offense is not an action we can take in our own strength.

Galatians 5:16 says-Walk by the Spirit; and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
Vs 19 of that chapter tells us what fulfilling the desires of the flesh look like and this
includes- sexual immorality, impurity; debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred;
discord; jealousy; fits of rage; selfish ambition; dissensions; factions and envy;
drunkenness; orgies and the like.
A Christian who lives to fulfill the desires of the flesh is also referred to as a carnal
Christian.
Paul states in 1 Corinthians 3:2-3-For you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among
you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?
In Romans 8:5, Apostle Paul also declares-
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Apostle Paul here states that carnality means to set your mind on the things of the flesh.
You set your mind on the things of the flesh when you are totally focused on fulfilling the
desires of the flesh. If your emotions and desires are ruled only by your 5 senses and
your actions are motivated only by your sense organs, you are carnally minded. If every
action of your life is a response to the things you see, touch, smell, taste and hear, then
you are carnal. Carnality is not necessarily bad, but If your life is focused on responding
to only your feelings and emotions whether positive or negative, you are carnal.
On the other hand, how do we walk by the spirit? You walk by the spirit when you
recognize that there is a spiritual realm more powerful and which controls the five
senses and the physical realm. You walk by the spirit when you recognize the presence
of the Holy Spirit in you and you actively lean on His strength and power to respond to
the circumstances around you. You walk by the spirit when you constantly renew your
mind in order to know what the scriptures say about you and your situation. You walk by
the spirit when you relate to God based on who the scriptures say you are. You walk by
the spirit when you recognize that the Holy Spirit is available to help you pull through
difficult situations. When you walk by the spirit, you do not rely on your own strength.
And you do not try to gain God’s favour by your effort. You focus on activities that draw
you close to God and not on activities that fuel your fleshly desires and remind you of
your failures. The result is that those fleshly desires will start diminishing.

Remember Galatians 5:16 says-Walk by the Spirit; and you will not fulfill the desires of
the flesh.
The summary of our conversation here is that the fruit we bear depends on whether we
are walking in the flesh or in the spirit. If our emotions and reactions are controlled by
people’s utterances and actions and the 5 senses, then we are walking in the flesh and

we will reap amongst other things hatred; discord; jealousy; fits of rage; dissensions;
factions and envy all of which have their roots in an offended heart. If we look beyond
what people say or do to us, listen to what the spirit of God is saying to us and focus on
the Spirit, we are walking in the spirit, and according to vs 22 of Galatians 5, we will
bear the fruit of love, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self control.
The beauty of this situation is that we don’t need to struggle to stop sowing to the flesh.
We just need to set our minds on the things of the spirit. Just give time to the things of
the spirit. Focus on God the Father; God the son and God the Holy Spirit. Give time to
studying the word of God. Have conversations frequently with the Holy Spirit. Play
worship songs frequently. And you will slowly loose appetite for fulfilling the desires of
the flesh.
The truth is that most of us are not paying attention to the dangers of the spirit of
offense and how it is affecting our spiritual walk. We don’t realize that an offended
attitude may be limiting the free flow of God’s anointing in our lives. We are indifferent
to the fact that an offended heart may be causing us to miss some blessings that God
has provided for us-not because he does not want us to receive them, but because our
hearts are not in a position to receive His blessings.
In order to rise above offenses we need to resolve to walk by the spirit.
In order to conquer the spirit of offense, we need to start saturating our minds with the
scriptures so as to be conversant with what they say about us and our situation. We
need to start recognizing that the Holy Spirit in us is more powerful than the traps of
offense that the devil sets up against us. We need to choose to draw from the strength
and power of the Holy Spirit to respond to offenses when they come
So next time someone tries to offend you, remember that offense will surely come, but
choosing not to take offense means you have chosen to walk by the spirit so as not to
fulfill the desires of the flesh.