Has someone ever offended you???  Have you ever in your hurt and anger passed on that offense to someone else??

In other words have you gossiped about what someone has done to you to a friend or relative and given them your offense.

How can we give our offense to someone else you say?? It is so easy and I am so guilty of this, both in the giving and the receiving.

For example, someone will say or do something that hurts my feelings, now I tell my husband or one of my friends and then because they love me they feel badly for me and possibly start having bad feelings about that someone who hurt me.

I have a strong sense of justice, in other words I don’t like to see people wronged so it is so easy for me to say “hey that’s not fair” and “they shouldn’t have said that” when someone shares with me.

I start to feel offended for my husband/friend and then I carry that offense in my heart against the offending person. I start to view the offending person in a bad light and maybe even have conversations with that person in my head about what they shouldn’t do.

See how it is building up, then it turns into unforgiveness, even though that person never did anything to me.

Phew, what a problem I am in now and there are many scriptures that say why I shouldn’t feel this way.

Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Ephesians 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Here are just a few and I haven’t even hit Proverbs and all the scriptures against gossiping.

Now my husband is a good one for telling me to not be offended and to always look at the motivation of the person who may have said something to me that I didn’t like.  He is a good balance to my emotions and I appreciate this in him.

Even though my husband is a great help in these situations, only God is able to really heal the hurt and take the offense away.

I so need to remember this before I open my mouth!!!

Psalms 55:22 Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.