The day before I was to post my already-finished blog on forgiveness (Outside the Camp), I talked to a friend who had been treated unkindly. After we talked at some length about her quandary as to how to handle the situation, I said, “You know, eventually you will have to forgive her.” I shared some of the words our pastor shared with us recently and prayed with her.
Over the next few days, the Holy Spirit brought two people to my mind, and I realized I’d been upset with them for some time. Each time He whispered, “You know, eventually you will have to forgive him/her.” I remembered that near the end of my blog, I’d said, “I’m asking God to search our hearts and reveal to us if we’re holding anything against anyone…” Wow! He had taken me at my word.
A day or two later, I picked up a folder that contained various messages or articles I’d saved thinking I’d reread the messages “sometime.” When I opened the folder, the first message was titled, “How To Become Unoffendable” by Francis Frangipane. I wondered, as I had when I’d read this message before, if this is even possible…to become unoffendable? Then I remembered a favorite verse from Psalm 119:165, “Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.”
Frangipane says, “People don’t usually stumble over boulders, they stumble over stones–relatively small things. It may be that the personality of someone in authority bothers us, and soon, we are offended. Or, a friend or family member fails to meet our expectations, and we take an offense into our soul…The occasions for taking offense are practically endless. Indeed, we are daily given the opportunity to either be offended or to possess an unoffendable heart.”
The next message in my folder was titled, “Forgiveness,” and written as though the Lord is speaking. (I have no author’s name for this.)
“I understand you were offended and it hurt. Let Me bring the pain to the surface and cleanse it from any infection. I know it is difficult, but the only way to preserve your own freedom from this offense is to forgive. Whether the offense was intentional or not, to nurse your feelings will only cause the wound to grow and become infected.
“Unforgiveness binds the soul and keeps the offense fresh in the mind and heart. Over and over again the enemy will bring it to memory and build upon it, expanding its pain by resurrecting other offenses…This causes an even greater gap between yourself and that person…When you release someone from offense, you release yourself as well.”
If God’s Word says that nothing will offend those who love His law, then I know it must be possible to be unoffendable. However, until I have attained that state, I want to be quick to forgive when I realize I am offended. I love Francis Frangipane’s closing prayer:
“Lord, forgive me for being so easily offended and for carrying offenses. Father, my heart is foolish and weak. Grant me the unoffendable heart of Jesus Christ. Amen.”
