Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

Matthew 13:20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Matthew 13:21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Offense is a state of a person’s heart and mind where they are presented with information that strikes at their pride or something they care about. Of course this is my reasoning. I’m going to try and figure some things out, not for your benefit(only) but for my own.

I’m about to get theological so hold on for a few sentences. The word offended according to Stong’s Greek and Hebrew is skan-dal-id’-zo. The definition
To “scandalize”; to entrap, that is, trip up (figuratively stumble [transitively] or entice to sin, apostasy or displeasure): – (make to) offend.

According to dictionary.com Scandalize - to shock or horrify by something considered immoral or improper.

Jesus blessed those who were not “scandalized” in him. He went own to say that those without any roots would be “scandalized” by the word.

How many times has your blood pressure risen at some false doctrine or some misrepresentation of the Word of God? It was a few more times than I care to remember. But this isn’t what Jesus is talking about. He is talking about the entrapment of those who have no root system of truth. Those who have a root system and are grounded in the truth are rarely entrapped or scandalized by a lie.

Case in point is Eve. She knew what God told Adam but she didn’t get the word for herself. Her root system was shallow and instead of checking things out she decided to believe the lie of Satan. After all Satan was very close to the truth. Satan said, “Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” He was spot on but he didn’t fill in the blanks. He didn’t tell her about the consequences or of the contingency of having access to the tree of life afterward. God said, “Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:”

Eve was scandalized because she had no depth or no concern with the exact truth. Neither, Adam knew the truth but he didn’t act on it.

How many of us are in that same boat? After all when I talk to friends that have fallen by the way because of no roots they don’t really see what the problem is.

Truth sometimes will cut to the bone and it may even shake people back to light. If we fail to learn and grow in our Lord and the truth of his word then we will be scandalized. We will fall. David said, “Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

You know. I’ve been hard pressed to find the time to write. I enjoy writing and I enjoy reading but when you’re a celebrity time is hard to find. Between giving piggy back rides and reading that some old book over and over again it is just hard to get anything done. What about the dinner meetings and site shoots you ask? Who said anything about being that kind of a celebrity. Even now my kids are shouting from the tub, they are ready for me to get in there and dry them off… be right back!

Back. Things are moving right along here. God is doing some really wonderful things. I’ve been working on the church site and hopefully will have that done soon. We have a permanent building now. The Lord is adding to the congregation. I also am working into my new position at work. It has been a very good change for me. The Lord opened the door when I needed it most. Keep praying for us.