In Luke 7:18-23, Jesus is approached by John’s disciples, and asked if he is the one who is to come. Jesus basically quotes scripture back at them, and tells them to think for themselves. Then he says, blessed is the one who takes no offense at me. What an interesting statement! What does it mean?
Again, I don’t profess to be an expert, but I do have opinions on things, including this statement. When you look at the totality of the four Gospels, we find every human in every story struggling to comprehend Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He shows us what we were made to be, and encourages us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to become the greatest version of ourselves. When we accept Jesus for who he is, we should find peace in allowing him to help us become the one that we were meant to be. Because of this, we are blessed. When we are offended by his preaching, we find a lack of peace and resistance. It is hard to move in the direction we were intended to move when we are resisting.
The thing I want to note is what I mean by being offended. Any of us who claim him to be our savior might be surprised at how much of what he preaches goes against what we want. Jesus wants us to walk in his footsteps. Figuratively speaking, this means carrying a cross, falling three times, being nailed to a cross, hanging on it for several hours, and then, dying with him. It means being flogged, ridiculed, and spit up on. This does not sound like a blessed way of living.
However, we are blessed when we allow God to use the good and the bad in our daily lives to reform us in his image. We are blessed when we die to self, and learn to live the gospel more fully. We are blessed when we stop rationalizing the gospel and watering it down. We are blessed by his very presence in our life.
Spend some time with the Holy Spirit questioning whether you take offense to any of his teaching. Try to see if there are things that he says that you implicitly reject. Are you experiencing blessings in your life by accepting what comes from the hand of God? Where can you be working with the Holy Spirit so as to be reformed in his image? As you cooperate with the Holy Spirit, praise and bless him for his mighty works. Thank him for all that he does with you, all the patience he exhibits towards you, all of the expectations he has for your life, and all that he wants to do through you.
In Him,
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