And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. Luke 7:23 NKJV
(Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. Luke 7:23 NIV)

My first answer to this question would be a definite “no way, I love Jesus – He doesn’t offend me!”  As I was reading in Luke and came across this chapter where this verse comes from, I started digging deeper.  John the Baptist is in prison and he is struggling while he is there wondering if Jesus really is the Messiah.  It seemed John had clearly recognized Him as the Messiah before when he baptized Him. But now he was doubting and questioning his faith.  Funny how that happens to us when things are not going well isn’t it?  We start to doubt Jesus – does He really love me? Does He see me?  Does He know what I’m going through? Why aren’t you doing anything Jesus?

The Jewish people were looking for a mighty king or warrior in Jesus.  They wanted him to rush in and take over and free them from the Roman rule and oppression of that time.  They had their minds made up of what Jesus was supposed to do.  But Jesus had a whole different plan and purpose for being there. He saw things from an eternal perspective and not the here and now.  Jesus’ focus was not their focus and that offended them.  How often does this happen in our lives?  Probably a lot but our goal is to keep an eternal perspective when things don’t go the way we think they should.  The bible tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 “ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  It doesn’t get much clearer than that.  God is God and we are not.  He is in control and things happen and work according to His plan and not ours.

My mother was diagnosed with cancer back in 2004.  She fought a long hard battle and I prayed for her to be healed of this terrible disease.  I knew He was capable.  He healed many people in the Bible and performed many miracles.  Luke 5: 12-13 is a story of a man with leprosy and he encounters Jesus and says “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man and said “I am willing – be clean.” And he was healed.  Needless to say when my mom lost her battle months later, I was offended.  Jesus apparently wasn’t willing to answer my prayer and heal her.  I was not only offended – I was angry.  Luckily God understands us in these moments of emotional unrest and is still patient and loving toward us –wooing us back to Him.

Jesus sent encouragement back to John the Baptist while he was in prison.  Confirmation that promises found in Isaiah about Him were being fulfilled – the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf her, the dead live and the poor hear the good news. He ultimately did not save him from prison or death as he was soon beheaded but Jesus knew where he was and what he was going through.

Jesus sent encouragement to me after mama’s death also in two ways. As I was sitting in Sunday School one morning, the teacher had us be quiet and just listen to a song.  I don’t even remember the song but I remember Jesus speaking to me in those quiet moments.  He said “This life is about Me and you.  If you also lose your dad, your husband, or others – you will still have Me. And that is what matters.”  That changed my whole perspective of Jesus being Sovereign and in control.  It’s not about me but about Him.  The second thing that happened as a result of mama’s death was that John started asking a lot of questions about dying and going to heaven.  This gave me the opportunity to tell Him about Jesus and explain how he could be saved and know for sure he would go to heaven and see his Nana again.  He was shortly baptized after that.  God had eternal things in mind when I only had the here and now. I thank God so much that I did not “fall away” because of Him as the NIV words it.  I did not let my anger grow to the point of turning my back completely on God and writing Him off.  No matter what happens I need to believe the promises of the God in the bible:

God loves me, no matter what
God is good, and works things out for good, no matter what
God will never leave me nor forsake me, no matter what
God’s will always has my best interest at heart, no matter what