Have I Offended God? — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

When I mention paintings like The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, my guess is that you will think of the legendary painter Leonardo da Vinci. And those two works, yes, they’re among the world’s most well-known and admired paintings. He died in 1519, aged 67, an amazing man, an illustrious name during the Renaissance period.

What interests me especially are his alleged last words as he lay dying. This is what he said – I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have. I think he was being overly modest because his brilliance was obvious to millions of people worldwide.

But he also felt that he had offended God in some way. Have you ever felt like that? Let me try and explain it this way. Getting on with other people can be challenging. There’s the risk of offending others by what we say, do or don’t do. And when we offend someone, it usually causes a rift between you and that person. And if handled correctly, the offended person would go to that person and let them know, look, I was offended, this is what happened. Let’s talk about it.

In an ideal situation, we would apologise and then forgiveness would be granted. Well, that’s how it should work in theory, but we know that many times people hang on to their hurts. And this leads to a separation or a diminishing of the friendship.

That’s a great shame. Too many people live like this.

That’s how it is with our relationships with each other. But did you ever stop to think about the prospect of offending God? We might think of the Lord exacting punishment on sin and being angry with people, but we usually don’t think of God as being offended.

If you read the Bible, you’ll find many instances where God is offended by His people. God takes offence at people whom he has shown mercy to, these people that continue in their sin, particularly in the Old Testament. He is offended when anyone comes against one of his children, and He is offended by sin. That’s why King David in the Old Testament wrote this prayer from Psalm 139.

Lord, point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. So not trusting in his own judgement, the great man David asked the Lord to search his heart to see if there was something that was offensive to God that he might have missed. He wanted to be right with God at all costs.

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Does God get offended by our sin. Yes, he does, but it doesn’t end there. Sin separates us from Him, and that’s why He sent Jesus, His Son, to be our saviour, and to deal with the sin and separation issue. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. He’s also just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all our sin.

The Bible says in Romans 8:1, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It’s gone, it’s over. No guilt, no condemnation, no punishment because Christ took it all. God’s goodness and grace is a message that we need to hear.

Today, while He does not tolerate sin, He does understand our humanity and our imperfections. It’s a bit like the little boy named Johnny who got into trouble at school for colouring outside the lines in his book. The teacher had handed out a beautiful colouring sheet of a garden.

But when Johnny turned his in, it looked like a rainbow had exploded all over the paper. Flowers were orange with purple polka dots. The sky was green, and there was even a red stripe across the sun. So the teacher frowned and said, Johnny, you didn’t follow my instructions. You were supposed to stay inside the lines. And with the big innocent eyes looking up, Johnny said, But I was just helping.

The flowers looked boring, so I made them prettier, and the sun, it wanted a little extra love. Well, the teacher wasn’t amused, and Johnny found himself in time out. And later that evening, his mother asked what happened. Johnny sighed and just said, Well, I guess, Mom, some people just don’t appreciate art. His mother chuckled, but then she surprised him by hanging his rather chaotic masterpiece on the fridge.

He looked up at her and said – Really, even though I’ve messed up, and his wise mother said – It’s not about perfection, Johnny. It’s about the joy that you put into it. That story reminds me of what grace is really all about. God doesn’t look at our mistakes and push us aside. Instead, He takes the messy, colourful chaos of our lives, and in His grace, He turns it into something beautiful.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, I’m sure there are people who have that sense of burden feeling that they’ve offended God in some way by what they’ve done in their life. But Lord, that’s not the end of the story. You come with your love, your grace, and your forgiveness, and you say, I can touch your life, give you a new heart and a new spirit. Amen.

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