organs

Don’t you just hate that pit of your gut feeling when you find out you have offended someone?
For me it is like some internal organs have decided to move south in my body. It just feels wrong!

Do I offend people on purpose?
No way!

I think this happens all the time for people in this world.
Jesus even had something to say about offence when he said these crazy words “offences will come...”
He knew that there would be moments for all of us where offence would find a way to invade our lives.

Kind of like a game of tennis...you are either serving it up or receiving it.
And if you are naturally a sensitive type of person, you seem to cop more than your fair share of offence balls to your side of the court.

So what to do?
Can you avoid offending someone?
Probably not...but you can lessen the chances of doing so by making wise decisions.
Can you avoid being offended?
Probably not...but you will always have an opportunity to respond to it.

Whether you are the server or the receiver you are still in the same game.
We forget I think that there are always two in the game.
We aren’t all out to ruin people’s lives.
And we aren’t all perfect and well behaved 24/7.
A rule of thumb I try to live with is that you give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
Jesus even challenged us all to forgive.

Don’t hang onto an offence...it will just drag you down.
And if you offend someone...do what you can to make things right.

Something to think about…