We have come to the end of this week and by way of drawing down the curtains on the week’s topic, we want to have an overview of the discussion we have had throughout the week. We saw that every single person who has ever lived on earth, has been offended in one way or the other. Sometimes we may view offense as slight or a deliberate discourteous act. At other times we may be offended and carry a resentment against one another for the rest of our lives. Thoughts from the week revealed that offenses are expressed in a form of resentment, rebellion, withdrawal from a group, failure to support or participate in a group.
We went on to say that, one of the effects of offenses is resentment which contains a self-destructive power that consumes one of his joy. We also saw resentment as harbouring animosity against a person for offending us.
We were again exposed to how some people manage offenses and the effects thereof. The three main ways are repression of offense where the offense is pushed to the subconscious mind and it resurfaces. The second is expression of offenses through actions such as stern look, a slam of a door, ignoring someone, crying, or giving a cold glare. The third is the release offense where one decides to let go the offense and move on with life. We saw how Saul managed his anger when he got offended by the songs the women sung after David had killed Goliath and the result of it.
Within the week, we also learnt that life is full of offenses and no matter how good you are, as long as you still exist on earth, offense would locate you. You may not offend people yet that does not exempt you from being offended by someone. However, people who cherish peace live by properly managing offenses. The scripture we read from Matthew 18:15-18 is explicit on how to resolve issues of offenses. May we device godly ways of dealing with every situation in life to bring glory to God.