Overcoming the Past - Living Unoffended (Daily Devotional)

Shalom and thank you for joining us as we look into God’s word as we are encouraged and as we learn truths about how to overcome the past, as we are looking into these series through this week. For this episode, we are looking at how we can live unoffended. Overcoming the past doesn’t only mean healing from what has just happened. It also means that we chose to live unoffended, not in bitterness and not stuck because of what others did. One of the tools that the enemy uses is offense and this locks us back in our past. When we dwell on that offense or on what others have done, we give the enemy power by our offense to shape our attitudes and our thoughts. This exactly calls us to guard our hearts. This again doesn’t mean that we ignore the pain but it means refusing to let it become your identity. We need to live unoffended and one of the most powerful ways we walk in freedom is by choosing to live unoffended, that is releasing the need to stay angry or to prove ourselves or even to hold on to our grudges. How do we do this? Colossians chapter 3, verse 13 reads, ‘bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.’ We live unoffended when we forgive as the Lord forgave us. We have received that kind of grace from God and so we are called and empowered to do the same. We are not forgiving because someone deserves it, we forgive because we have been forgiven. Every time we feel like holding on to offense, we remember how Jesus released us from our own sin and shame. His forgiveness enables us to forgive others and live unoffended. We need to see that living unoffended isn’t a place of weakness but rather strength and it comes from the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It takes courage to let go of what hurts you and trust God to heal you, restore you and vindicate you. When we live this way, we are overcoming the past by no longer allowing it to dictate that relationship. There are some wonderful examples in the bible of someone who lived unoffended. We see Joseph in the Old Testament who was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, was falsely accused and imprisoned for many years but when he probably had the power to take revenge, he forgave them. He lived unoffended by trusting the bigger plan of God, by letting go of bitterness and by reconciling with his brothers. Our ultimate example is Jesus. We see Jesus was insulted, rejected, beaten but yet He never responded in offense. He healed those who hurt, those who left and forgave them. Jesus lived unoffended. Today, let’s choose to release forgiveness and live unoffended in the freedom of God’s grace knowing that we are no longer bound by the pain of the past but we are free to walk in peace ad healing. Let’s pray together, Heavenly Father, we pray that you will help us forgive as you have forgiven us so that we can live lives that are unoffended. May we not choose to give the enemy power over what we decide but we pray that Holy Spirit you will take over and give us a heart of forgiveness towards those who have hurt us and live in that place of freedom and peace, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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