Does it bother you to offend God?

There are three types of people in the world:

1. Those who are not bothered when they offend God
2. Those who are bothered when they offend God but attempt to solve the problem in the wrong way
3. Those who are bothered when they offend God and understand the right way to address it.

The first group of people have hearts that are essentially numb toward their Creator. Jesus described them this way: “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes” (Matthew 13:15). 

The Lord Almighty delivered this message in the Old Testament: “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The Word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it” (Jeremiah 6:10).

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People who find no pleasure in God’s Word are obviously way out of sync with their Creator. The Apostle Paul described those who “turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:4). “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good” (Titus 1:16).

So, does it bother you to offend God? Or has your heart become so hardened toward the Lord that you pursue your sinful desires without any regard for the One you will stand before on Judgment Day? If that describes the state of your soul today my friend, then I sincerely urge you to fall on your knees and ask God to convict you of your sins and give you a new heart.

The second group of people are bothered when they offend God but wrongly assume they can appease God by doing enough good things to make up for their bad behavior. The reason they are sadly mistaken is that even 1,000 good works cannot wash away a single sin! And this is why the Savior went to the cross to pay for our sins. If we could wash away our sins by our good works, then there would have been no reason for Jesus to endure the agony of crucifixion for our salvation.

Unfortunately, millions of people embrace the lie of works righteousness. They erroneously believe they can work their way into God’s good graces, even though such a thing is impossible. The only way to the Father is through the Son (see John 14:6). “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36). This objective truth is an absolute certainty, regardless of who accepts it and who rejects it. 

Thankfully, God provided the narrow path to Paradise (see Matthew 7:13-14). The fact of the matter is that God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to rescue us from eternal punishment in Hell! (see John 3:16). Nevertheless, “The senseless man does not know” the Lord or the way to get into Heaven and avoid being sent to Hell (Psalm 92:6). Unbelievers remain lost in sin and confused about God (see 1 Cor. 2:14). You see, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).

The third group of people are those who correctly understand what to do when they offend God. “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

The correct approach to take when we offend God is to run to the cross and believe that Jesus paid the full price for all of our sins. As we repent of our sins, we trust Christ to forgive us while relying upon the gracious promises of our loving Savior. The bottom line is that believers need the Gospel just as much as unbelievers! We are all sinners who fall far short of God’s perfect standard. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 at age 39 after actively opposing the diabolical reign of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi oppression of the Jews. He was also one of the organizers of the Confessing Church in Germany. Bonhoeffer explained what can happen when a child of God gives into temptation. “When we are tempted, we do not say, ‘I hate God, and God hates me.’ Rather, we simply forget about God and act as though He didn’t exist, or we had never known Him.”

Followers of Christ desire to keep short accounts with God when we sin, while of course seeking to please the One who demonstrated His love for us on the cross (see Romans 5:8). God’s Word clearly instructs those of us who know the Lord: “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16). It is essential when we do offend God that we repent of our sins and rely completely upon the blood of Jesus to cleanse our soul. 

So, does it bother you to offend God? And if so, what are you going to do about it, especially now that you have been presented with the right way and the wrong way to address the problem?