"That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;"
Approved = prove, put to the test
Sincere = pure, spotless
The word offence or being offended takes on so much meaning in society today. I pondered on this verse and the meaning of offence. It can be either giving offence to others or taking offense. If you are pure, spotless and test things, to make sure you stand with God in all things, there are people that will become offended by that. Well, there are people period that take offence over everything. I can't control that. I can try to not sincerely offend, and there is a legitimate point in the sincerity of the actions. For there are "religious" people that will purposely flaunt it in your face. That is not righteousness and it does offend others. I cannot see Paul wanting the saints to every do that.
The other offence is the one taken by other's words and deeds, being "resentful, annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult". That part I have control over. That is why I have to so careful to not become part of this new culture of becoming socially offended. I would tend to think that the more pure and spotless one tries to become the less you would be offended. Yes, you're more sensitive to evil and stay away from it. But, offended as in "resentful, annoyed, with a perceived insult" it not any part of the equation. For none of these is an action becoming a saint. Interesting that Paul says "without offence till the day of Christ". Paul must have seen our day, before the Lord's second coming, for being offended is a plague among us that is quickly turning into an epidemic.
I watched again the new Book of Mormon video that came out today "Lehi's Family Sails to the Promised Land" (1 Nephi 18) and what a powerful example it is of the behavior of people that give or take offense or not.
Day 1677
No comments:
Post a Comment