No offence intended
Whether you’re a Christian believing in God, or just someone who believes in a higher being, we’ve all been in that place where we thought God just doesn’t care about us.
We’ve all at one stage thought God doesn’t care about our circumstances or God doesn’t care about our situation.
If you’re a Christian, you even might have heard something like, “Maybe you have unconfessed sin in your life?”
Or someone might have said to you that you lack faith. But when I read the Bible I find that Bible stories were included for us to learn from them what to do.
At the same time, we can identify with what these people were going through. For example, John the Baptist.
Here’s a guy who served God, he did everything right, told everyone to stop sinning and to get right with God, he even introduced Jesus as the Messiah. Yet he ended up in jail. Not because he did something wrong. But because he did something right. And while in jail he started to doubt. Just like we sometimes do when we face difficult times.
And so he ended up asking some friends to go to Jesus to make sure that He truly was who John believed Him to be. Listen to how Jesus answered John’s friends in Matthew 11:4-6.
“Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news. And if anyone is not offended because of Me, he is blessed.”
Jesus didn’t answer by saying “Yes I’m the Messiah” or “Go tell John he’ll be released soon” (in fact John was beheaded not long after this conversation).
But Jesus did quote the Old Testament signs that would prove that He’s the Messiah. And then He said something quite profound. He said, “If anyone is not offended because of Me, he is blessed.” The word offended here literally means to not fall away from your faith. Jesus was in fact saying to John’s friends; “Go and tell John that I am God, I’m doing what I have set out to do and as long as you do not take offence to what I’m doing, you’ll be blessed.” This to me says no matter what I’m facing, no matter who I am, God knows my name, He knows what I’m going through and as long as I trust Him, everything will become a blessing.
Pastor JJ Botha, FGC of God in SA