Who stinks at greetings?
*waves hand wildly* MEEE!
Ahem. Anyway.
Moving on.
This is, what, the seventh way on how to kick the devil’s butt in your everyday life? I can hardly believe it’s going by so fast! 😀
That was a cliché thing to say. I told you, I stink at greetings.
Welcome to Mondays with Madi once again! We’re ready to dive into the seventh way to kick the devil’s butt in our everyday life, which is…
What is an offense?
An offense is an attempt from the devil to make us stumble (sin). There’s always an opportunity to deal with offense wrongly, and the devil is more than happy when we take it! Here are some ways Jesus wants us to deal with whiny siblings, mean jerks, uninformed parents, and other things that offend us. ?
First of all, Colossians 3:13 says…
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
And Mark 11:25 says,
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
If we’ve accepted Jesus into our hearts, God has forgiven us from all of our sins. God is a GREAT example — we also must reflect His love and forgiveness by not holding grudges against others even when they annoy the life out of us. Colossians 3:13 said we must forgive others since the Lord has forgiven us!
So how exactly do we deal with offense when it comes? You know, someone just spread that lie behind your back that you eat earwax-flavored ice cream every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner which actually may or may not be true or your little brother just completely and utterly annihilated and destroyed your iPhone for all eternity. Or that on-and-off friend that talks to you one moment and ignores you the next… or that someone who just said something really, really hurtful to you.
We can take this one of two ways…
The Way of the Flesh (Devil’s Way)
I tell people all about it.
I’VE BEEN HURT. SOMEONE NEEDS TO KNOW. I’VE GOTTA VENT, PEOPLE. YOU FEEL ME?
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The people I tell begin to think less of my offender and develop a negative opinion about them.
“Oh — oh my. That’s terrible. I did not know that. What a backstabbing lowlife.”
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They now JOIN me in speaking negatively about my offender and spread the gossip to others.
“Yo, check it out! Did you hear about Backstabbing Lowlife and what they did to Offended Person? They’re terrible, just terrible. Issues, I tell you. It’s really bad.”
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I have succeeded in:
- Sin.
- Causing others to sin.
- Creating division in relationships.
- Making myself more upset by re-hashing the details over and over — bitterness in my heart!
- Directly, knowingly, and willfully disobeying God’s Word by reacting according to my flesh rather than submitting to the Spirit.
And lastly,
- The devil wins.
WOAH. Not good! Who in the world would want to take the devil’s way of doing things? THAT STINKS!
Thankfully, our God is AMAZING. He’s empowered us to kick the devil’s butt in all things ever. Check out His way that we can take and properly deal with offense the devil butt-kicking way! ?
The Way of Love (God’s Way)
I go directly to God in prayer.
1 Peter 5:7 — Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
Matthew 5:44 — But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
Matthew 6:12 — … and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
(… and watch God change their heart without us having to do a thing!)
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God listens to me and gives me His (better) perspective. What does His Word say?
Luke 11:28 — Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.”
And again… Matthew 5:44 — But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
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When I obey the Word, I feel peace! The “need” to vent to others is gone.
Man, I feel so much better! Backstabber who? Lowlife what?
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I have…
- Honored God by valuing unity over the (very) temporary pleasure of gossping and gaining sympathy from others.
- Totally kicked the devil’s butt.
And lastly,
- Love (God) wins!
God’s way is so much simpler and better! We feel so much better afterward, too.
The devil is always going to try and get us offended. Someone is always going to hurt us. There will always be opportunities to re-hash the details, vent and gain sympathy from others. But because we’re meant to kick the devil’s butt and not the other way around, let’s let the Lord take our burdens for us and quit being offended. However we decide to handle the offense is completely up to us. ?
Great post, Madi!!!
Thank you, Chloe! 😀
FIRSST LIKE AND COMMENT OR SECOND IDK. Now I have to go read the post XD
Second by literally sixty seconds ?
This is the best one you’ve had! Wow! Thank you SO much for posting this!
Oh my goodness, I am SO glad you liked this! Thank you for commenting! 😀
This was great, Madi! I really like how you formatted the post, and the tips were so good and true. 🙂
Thanks so much, Allison! 😀
Another great post in this series! You make some great points, Madi. 🙂 The effects you can have when you do or say just one thing are really unimaginable.
CutePolarBear
Thank you so much! Yes — very true.
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggggggggggg I struggle so much with this. -_- *grumbles about adorable but impossible siblings*
*sighs*
Most crazily, ~Olive
LOL, I know, the siblings ? Much easier to deal with offense God’s way though. ?
Love this post! God is absolutely using you, Madi!!
Yay! And I’m so glad! That’s been my prayer ever since starting Madi Grace! Jesus is amazing.
OH NO!! Shoot, Madi! You caught me again with the ear wax ice cream ? *stars talking really fast* I’m really really sorry I just can’t get enough of Harry Potter so I thought “hey Harry has ear wax jelly beans, WHY DON’T I?!” Then I was like “wait. I have a mind-blowing-super-cool-gonna-blow-you-through-the-roof idea.” And then I went to the store and bought ice cream and…..yeah you get the idea.
HAHA! So anyway, I think this is my favorite AND the best Monday’s with Madi post so far!!
????????
Still can’t breathe ????
Aw, I’m SO glad you liked it! Hurray! 😀
So true, Madi! Great post! 🙂
~Lydia~ <3
Amen! Thank you so much! 😀
Augh, this is too perfect for today. *sigh* Thank you Madi. It’s just what I needed. 🙂
~ Light4theLord
Aw, I’m so glad! Jesus is amazing! That blesses me so much to know! Thank you for commenting!
Hi, Madison! ?
Another successful job on madi grace! This was a great one!!!? keep up the AWESOME work!???
How are you today????
Thank you so much, Sara! So glad you liked it! I’m great, you?
Your very Welcome! 🙂
Yes I liked it alot I like ALL of them!
I’m great, Thank you! 🙂
Every day of my life has SOOOO much offense in it. Now I know how to deal with it. I swear, these posts are bettering my life every Monday.
Oh my goodness, I am SO glad! (That these posts are helpful) It’s been my prayer that these would help someone and I’m so, so glad you like them ❤️❤️❤️ Jesus is amazing ❤️ Thank you for commenting ❤️
This is something I’ve realized I’ve been doing a lot more (going with my flesh that is). It doesn’t satisfy. Thank you for this reminder to make the right choice.
True that! Jesus is so awesome. Thank you for commenting ❤️
This was so good and really helped me, I struggle with this a lot, like everyone does. 😐 You are such an inspirational writer! Thank you for encouraging me! 😀
God’s way is so epic! Aw, thank you for commenting! ❤️