“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”( John 8:32)
In this day and age that we live, we have been brainwashed into making sure that no one is offended. We are taught that the feelings of people are more important than the truth. To hear the truth concerning ourselves is painful most of the time. The Church has been watered down to being powerless because of our deep desire not to offend church members, leaders or anyone for that fact. We have traded truth for diplomacy which is the art of dealing with people in a sensitive way. The fruit of this sensitivity so that no one is hurt has destroyed morals, kept people in bondage and allowed the enemy to creep in and make us believe that our feelings are greater than God’s truth.
When Jesus walked the earth, He called people vipers, He called religious leaders white washed tombs, He turned tables over in the temple, He warned people to get out of sin, He rebuked, corrected and at times walked away because of the lack of people’s faith. That doesn’t look like diplomacy, it looks like truth!
When the motivation behind our action is love, it will produce good fruit even though at the time it seems to hurt. There are times we need to be up front and take the sugar coating off of what we mean to say so that it is mot misunderstood. The second that we hear,”I’m offended”, we should realize that it is not necessarily what has been said that caused offense but rather the state of the persons heart receiving. Jesus warned us not to be offended which means there are many, many things in life that will be brought to our attention that have the capacity to offend us if we allow it. We can always hear what is being said and ask,”how can I grow from this correction instead of being offended.”
Diplomacy can many times negate truth because diplomacy looks for a way to be kind rather than be real. Diplomacy allows bad behavior to continue and bring destruction without it being confronted.
Let’s ask God’s Spirit to go deep in our souls and deliver us from the spirit of offense. The spirit of offense will keep us from hearing the truth that will set us free!
Keep your eyes on Jesus, receive correction, honor others but most of all allow Jesus to do the work that has been started in us.
Before the truth can set you free, you first need to know it!
Michael Cannatello
The Ministry of Michael Cannatello TMMC
