Pick Your Poison

Matthew 11:6 And blessed is the one who if he has not been offended on my account.

 Does anyone else feel those egg shells underfoot, mostly for fear of offending someone? People are so sensitive, protectively fighting their prideful and entitled corners. If the contingency for being blessed by the Lord is based on not being offended, then my estimation is that blessing might be in short supply.

Christendom is full of ignorance (not knowing) about what they signed up for when they ‘chose’ Jesus as Lord and Savior. An imitator of Jesus - a disciple trains to do that – gives up any right to be right. If you don’t believe me, just read the gospel accounts, all four of them. Each one provides enough detail of Jesus’ arrest, the torture He withstood and finally His crucifixion. How many times He could have been ‘offended’ but decided to produce His own spirit fruit of clemency, self-restraint, joy and generous concern instead.

Choosing to come behind Jesus is choosing that cross-raised life, giving up the right to be offended on account of imitating Jesus. There are a number of commands which are meant to make this choice of lifestyle possible: rejoice in persecution, turn the other cheek, shine your light, do not judge, go a second mile, value your enemy and pray for that enemy, agonize the narrow gate, be reconciled, go pray in an inner room. If those fall short, then desire, pursue and knock; that should do it.

The one who humbles himself will be exalted? The cross-raised lifestyle is Humility all day, all the time, about as attractive as drinking poison. One might rather drink poison than to raise a cross and give up the right to be right. Fighting one’s corner feels good, to bite back against offenders.

And therein lies the fork in the road. Poison without a cross will only end in death. The poisonous death of pride and ego on a raised-cross will always end in exaltation laced with blessing. Hmmm. Which road to take? Blessing only comes on the gate called, Narrow.