"Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to you!"
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 16:22-23 (NKJV)
In the world today, it seems that almost anything a person does or says will offend someone, somehow. While it is certainly not good to do or say things that are offensive to other people, sometimes it seems that people are expecting to be offended. But an actual offense is one thing and an imagined offense is another. If there is an offense, it would have to be that something was said or done that crossed the line from acceptable to unacceptable, which would also mean that there has to be a standard for what is, or is not, acceptable.
For some people, being offended is an easy thing, but what about Jesus? We know that God is love (1 John 4:7), and Jesus came to do the will of God (John 6:38), so did Jesus ever let anything offend Him? While it may be a surprise to some, the answer is yes, Jesus did talk about something that was an offense to Him. In Matthew 16:23, Jesus talked about how placing an emphasis on the things of men and not on the things of God was an offense to Him. Can you imagine that, offending Jesus?
It would be nice to think that God and Jesus are always pleased with everything we do. But the Bible talks about living a life that is fully pleasing to God (Colossians 1:10) and Paul said that our goal should be to please God (2 Corinthians 5:9). This tells us that it is possible to not please God, and as we saw with Jesus, to even offend Him. We need to keep our focus and attention on spiritual things and not get so caught up in the natural side of life. This is how we will be able to do what God has called us to do and be sure that we are well pleasing to God.
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 16:22-23 (NKJV)
In the world today, it seems that almost anything a person does or says will offend someone, somehow. While it is certainly not good to do or say things that are offensive to other people, sometimes it seems that people are expecting to be offended. But an actual offense is one thing and an imagined offense is another. If there is an offense, it would have to be that something was said or done that crossed the line from acceptable to unacceptable, which would also mean that there has to be a standard for what is, or is not, acceptable.
For some people, being offended is an easy thing, but what about Jesus? We know that God is love (1 John 4:7), and Jesus came to do the will of God (John 6:38), so did Jesus ever let anything offend Him? While it may be a surprise to some, the answer is yes, Jesus did talk about something that was an offense to Him. In Matthew 16:23, Jesus talked about how placing an emphasis on the things of men and not on the things of God was an offense to Him. Can you imagine that, offending Jesus?
It would be nice to think that God and Jesus are always pleased with everything we do. But the Bible talks about living a life that is fully pleasing to God (Colossians 1:10) and Paul said that our goal should be to please God (2 Corinthians 5:9). This tells us that it is possible to not please God, and as we saw with Jesus, to even offend Him. We need to keep our focus and attention on spiritual things and not get so caught up in the natural side of life. This is how we will be able to do what God has called us to do and be sure that we are well pleasing to God.
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