The Oldest Trick in the Book

Years ago, my Pastor’s wife, Alexa Olson, was planning a special ‘ladies night’ event for our church family.  We began with fellowship, and through the course of the evening, we enjoyed a fashion show showcasing beautiful modest wear, hair tutorials, and even a few Apostolic “makeovers.”  The culmination of the evening was a series of speakers, selected by our First Lady, and each brief message was based on the topic of holiness.  She didn’t tell us what to say; it was up to each of us to pray, study, and present whatever we felt God might lead us to say on the subject.

Although I feel strongly about an outward manifestation of holiness, and God-given biblical standards of dress and behavior, I kept coming back to this one thought:

Offense is the enemy of holiness.

Did you see that?

Offense is the enemy of holiness.

Proverbs 18:9 (KJV) says, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”  An offended spirit is a spirit that, if nurtured, will begin to question principles that were previously embraced, and even cherished, beliefs.  An offended spirit is certainly an acid that eats away at all the “critical systems” of a thriving spiritual relationship.  Think about it: when, let’s say, someone in church leadership is the source of an offense, it’s common for questions of the following sort to incessantly pop into our thought life.

·       What do they really know?  They’re certainly not perfect.  I remember______________.

·       They’re so disconnected with reality—do they have any idea what real people go through?

·       I have far superior knowledge/education/experience regarding ________.  Why won’t they defer to me?

·       Can’t they see calling on my life?  If they were really spiritual…

·       Why won’t they let me (preach, teach, be in charge)?

·       Why won’t they support my “authority”?

Y’all, this type of questioning is the oldest trick in the Enemy’s book.

Consider this:  When Lucifer was in heaven as Music Director, he questioned God’s sovereignty.  Check it out, if you like, in Isaiah 14:12-19.  He mistakenly believed he could do God’s job better—“I will be like the most High.”  In his delusion, he began to see God’s authority as the enemy of own potential.  God (Whom, let’s not forget, created him) was now cramping his style, and seemed unaware of his spectacular capability.

Sounds like a typical teenage crisis to me.

And then, like lightning, he was gone.

So, for his next trick, he chose to bring some of his “questioning” to the Garden of Eden, where the Lord had started over with a clean slate.  Adam and Eve, awash with innocence, and crafted by the Master’s own hand—a first in creation—had displaced Lucifer and his posse as the foremost accomplishment of His genius.  It truly was a glorious achievement.

Oh, how it must’ve stung.

I’m sure the demon of Jealousy was sitting on Lucifer’s shoulder, and Offense on the other.  The formerly breathtaking Angel of Music, with golden pipes in his throat, the precious stones that had covered his being, but exiled as his true, corrupted nature came to the forefront, now displaced by this mudball?  Dust of the earth, rolled together and assembled with the gentle hands of the God of the Universe now held an honored spot in Heaven’s plan.  Jehovah was showing unprecedented attention to them, too—He even strolled with them in the garden, in the cool of the day.

It was more than this fallen angel could take.  In his unwillingness to accept his own responsibility for his fall from grace, he concocts a new plan, that only could be born of an offended spirit.

He’s going to take the new kids DOWN.

What’s his angle?  Question God’s authority.  Question God’s intention.  Question His purpose.  Question the outcome.  Question.  Question. Question.

Genesis 3:1-5 KJV

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

² And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

³ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

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. 

When you begin to question the things you already know to be right—beware.

Please understand:  I’m not saying it’s wrong to review traditions, and weigh them out scripturally.  In fact, that is what we are supposed to do.  The Berean Jews in Acts 17:10-11 were more noble than those in Thessolonica, because they received the Word with all readiness of mind, AND because they searched the scriptures DAILY to see whether those things—the Word being preached to them by Paul and Silas—were so.  They didn’t just accept it on face value.  They consulted the Word of God as their confirming measuring stick.  So should we.

But when the Enemy comes to us, especially when we are already emotionally compromised by wounds—we would do well to watch out for the questions that the Accuser of the brethren would bring.

If we allow the infection of offense to gain foothold in our spirits, we will begin to question every principle, every memorial, every area of our lives that we had previously surrendered to Him.  It won’t be long before our lives of consecration are exchanged for lives of compromise.  At first, we’ll feel justified.  Free.  At liberty.  No more constrained by the things so faithfully preached and required by those who wounded us.  Like a three-year-old in full-blown temper tantrum mode, we stomp our feet, fold our arms, jut out our chins, and declare, “Take that, and see if you’ll ever tell me what I can and can’t do ever again.”

Unbeknownst to the rebellious ones, though, who sees themselves as a God-appointed freedom fighter, they’ve just taken the wheel of their lives away from the hand of God—and they’re headed directly for a cliff that would make the Grand Canyon nervous.

Suddenly, everything feels like freedom.  How could we ever have thought that that would bring us harm?  Why were we such prudes?  So narrow in our thinking, so legalistic in our standards?  No more!  We’re FREE!

And for a time, I’m sure it feels like unprecedented blessing and favor.  But it’s phony.  It’s a trick of the Enemy.  Wherever do you think drug dealers got the concept of, “Give them a little for free and once they’re hooked they’ll be your lifelong slave”?  He INVENTED it.

Of course, the worst thing that could possibly happen is that God never allow them to see where everything in their lives went sideways.  I pray that everyone who ever succumbed to an offended spirit would have a moment of clarity in the pig-sty.  That they’d see how far they’d fallen, and how mistaken they’d been about the intentions of a loving Father who had required more.  It hadn’t been about keeping them in slavery, but the blessings and harmony that submission and obedience bring.  When we choose to submit ourselves, despite the wound or the hurt, and we refuse an offended spirit to take root, we unleash God’s favor and blessing in our lives in ways we could never imagine.  Just take a look at all these scriptures regarding submission.

Ephesians 5:20-21 KJV

²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

²¹ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Hebrews 13:17 KJV

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Phillipians 2:3 KJV

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Romans 12:9-10 NKJV

⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

James 4:7 KJV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Did you see THAT?  James called him out!  That’s the one who is calling the shots when you give in to your offended spirit!  Resist the devil!  When you do, he can’t hang around—he tucks his tail between his worthless legs and runs.  Good riddance!

1 Peter 5:5 KJV

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

That one ought to knock your socks off.

When you start questioning, and you give in to all your self-righteous justification, God RESISTS YOU.  Is that what you really want?  God is not in your corner, backing you up.  He is waiting to see how you respond, and He has already given you the formula here.  Submit yourself, be clothed with humility—NOT justification—and God Almighty will give you grace.  In case you need to review the definition of ‘grace’, let me help you out:  it is the free and unmerited favor of God.

It’s free—it doesn’t cost me anything but a submitted spirit and a humble attitude.  It’s unmerited—which means that I don’t really deserve it.  But He gives it to me just the same, because He said He would, if I would just back off and submit myself.  When I remove myself from contention for the job of “Number 1”, I free Him up to bless me in ways I never could have dreamed.

I’ll take the blessings of God over the way I’d bless myself, every day of the week.  That’s not even a contest.