In my readings recently, I read the parable of the sower.
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18 ¶ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Actually the parable relates more to the condition of the soil where the seeds are cast.
When the disciples of Jesus ask for an interpretation, he graciously gives it. The one part that really struck me was relating to the seed choked by weeds (first see Matthew 13: 5+6 for the portion of the parable I want to focus on, then for the interpretation see later in the same chapter for verses 20+21).
What does the word offense really mean? I went and looked at a definition in Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary on the internet and found the following:
Definition of OFFEND
intransitive verb
1a : to transgress (see TRANSGRESS transitive 1) the moral or divine law : SIN
• if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive
• —William Shakespeare
b : to violate a law or rule : do wrong
• offend against the law
2a : to cause difficulty, discomfort, or injury
• took off his shoe and removed the offending pebble
b : to cause dislike, anger, or vexation
• thoughtless words that offend needlessly
There are 2 key meanings for me here:
- To sin or break the law, be it divine or mortal.
- To cause God or Men to be angry or vexed.
Obviously where God is concerned, it involves the disobedience of mankind. God will be angry because he loves his children and wants them all to return to him, sin places a barrier between mankind and God. Where mankind is concerned, offence can be taken by mankind when criticism of their sins are exposed or chastised.
The Saviour points out that when the Gospel message is given, many in the world will be offended. (See Matthew chapter 11, especially verse 6 below)
2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
In the verse of Matthew 13:41 listed below, shows offense from the perspective of God. Ultimately God is offended because he is a just God and sin cannot be allowed in his presence. Remember that is why Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden, even though they did not “know” good and evil, their transgression resulted in their expulsion from the presence of God.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
So ultimately offence is when a person hears what another is saying and the effect of hearing that statement causes that person to be emotionally hurt. Then as a result of that feeling of hurt, that person responds defensively. Usually the intention of the hurt person will be to ignore or forget the painful comment. Occasionally the hurt person can respond aggressively, by word (not so much a problem) or by violent reaction (a dangerous problem). This problem will occur in particular when the critical comment is directed towards religious conduct or beliefs.
As Jesus points out, many ancient prophets were persecuted, when delivering their message to a wicked Israel. These ancient prophets suffered terribly or even died as a result of that persecution. The sufferings and deaths of these ancient prophets was a symbolic forerunner to the eventual destiny of Christ himself.
So how do we handle being offended? Do we lash out or are we emotionally strong enough to handle criticism? Can we use the critical observations of others for our own advantage?
I had a friend who was much older than me. His personality was that of extreme emotion. I will never forget when he seriously rebuked me for not doing something that was expected of me. I will never forget the sharpness of the comment, fortunately for me, even though his words stung me, I was able to fix my error of omission. We remained the best of friends until the day he died, many years later.
My wife is another person who is also strong like that, but she is much more careful with her comments. Yet she has offended several of my friends who did not continue their friendship with us. Their egos were just too fragile.
I believe there is value in being offended. But we have to stop the complete cycle of response which makes offense so displeasing to God. Yes, we must hear, but despite the pain caused by what we have heard, we must reflect inwards and find what we can use for our own benefit. Sometimes we just have to ignore what others say because they may not know all the facts of the whole situation and make an incorrect statement.
I often find that those whose mouths flap the loudest, are the most vulnerable in their sensitivity. In other words, they can dish it out” as the expression goes, but they can’t take it!
To be humble is NOT to be weak.
Rather it shows a great deal of internal strength.
The fact is that any words are just words. It is possible to interpret the meaning of certain words in different ways, but the meaning remains lost.
What a beautiful and instructive parable. What are the right and golden words. To be humble is NOT to be weak. Rather it shows a great deal of internal strength. I read your post with great pleasure and interest.
thank you @fred703 for this adorable article
and
Act of kindness may soon be forgotten, but the memory of an offense remains
woo posting nice and beautiful. I really like this post. thank you @fred703
@fred703 i like your wife attitude towards the friends .its really a good step for you too.and yes we need to ignore all the persons except wife sons and parents because they can never miss guide you have nice day man.
What a beautiful idea in the article. Nice words and amazing story in the post. Good post.
You are axplain very well about voilation and offend. Never change our mind, when someone offended you, just change your mind if you are wrong. Every human make mistake, is it a part of life and we are learn our mistakes. Thankyou for this concept clear it 🙂
Your words is right truly said, there is value in being offended. It's very good Your wife is really strong woman. Probation violation is an offense that you're occurs when you are break the terms or conditions of your probation rules and regulation. If you're feel guilty than excuse her is the best way. You're right sometimes we are ignore that situation.
Hope I try to write a best comment :)
Hallelujah! glory to God. Thanks for so much for sharing such a great and very inspirational text. As for me i prefer that seed that was planted in good soil. God bless you so much.
A very profound words, after I read from the contents of your article, you explain the violation. Everyone living in this world, must have committed an offense, because not perfect man, must all make a mistake. Thanks for sharing and hope you have a wonderful day.
good post. Description of the story that can be used as science, thank you already sharing @fred703
Dear @fred703 thank you for your thoughts on this timeless parable. Clearly the message is for the soil....us....to change, and how if we or our hearts are prepared, then that powerful seed will take root and grow. I have recognised when I have not had as prepared soil as I should, and if Im honest enough I can then make te change that is needed in order to sort that issue out.
I must admit, to me the actual words of the Savior are priceless, seeing how he taught, answered questions with lessons, rebuked the wicked, gave advise.....His messages are without end, and are so deep that almost every time I read one of them I am touched by their wisdom.
I'm not an easily offended person, but do find that when there are people that are aggressive or offensive, I do skinder (Afrikaans word for belittling/gossip) negatively about them. It's something that I can definitely improve on this.
Enjoyed the read
Thanks. Who is tow and who is jam? :)
LOL! Thankfully its not TOE! But I will not venture on a comment on who is who in that combo
This post by You is actually how everyone around should be. The best word to describe it is be kind. We sometimes forget that we all are humans and in this mayhem we curse our fellow mates for small things. It might happen in the got of anger,ego or greed but to me the best is who asks for forgiveness, who admits jus wrongdoings. God is so kind to this human race, behave been only spoiling his Creation but He still loves us and every now & then showers us with utmist blessings. Same way we should treat our our fellow humans with no discrimation . One small act of kindness will give a satisfaction of lifetime. Live happily forgive and forget
@originalworks
wow...what a wonderful post @fred703 . i like your post to much. thanks for share the post.
That's a nice post. I always pay attention to your posts, because your post contains many important information that is very valuable to me. And thank you very much for sharing your valuable post with us. I hope that you will be with us for many more valuable posts like this. I hope you will be successful, work like that. Be good
Nice bro, growing our life day bay but it was not like this. It had been started and day by day we have gotten this modern world. Every creation of the world is for man.
well i cant really say a lot about this ... i read the post and i found it very interesting so far ..
Its even in the Lord's prayer... forgive me my trespasses as i have forgiven all those who trespassed against me
very good quotes my buddy really liked the topic
amazing article sir... really liked it sir...👍
A good and very useful post is very excited to read the post @fred703
wow..excllent post... thanks for sharing
And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:25
One of the most deceptive snares Satan uses to get believers out of the will of God is offense.
One of the major reasons that there are church splits and so many different denominations is that Satan has been all to successful in sowing discord among the body of Christ. Each of us has to do our part to thwart Satan’s evil scheme.
We must promote unity and harmony among fellow believers. The way to avoid Satan’s trap is to be committed to sharpening one another instead of wounding each other.
very wise words. it's good that people post such posts:))
good luck in further work
What a beautiful and amazing pictures.
Thanks for share this amazing post man.
Great post. What do you think of the following statement? Offence is not given. It is taken.