The Best Offense
Have you been offended recently? If not, maybe you have caused offense? Seems almost a daily occurrence in today’s world, right? Someone says or does something, even a seemingly harmless comment can get misinterpreted, and before you know it, someone’s been offended. It may even happen while reading this letter—that’s the risk I take when I talk about my relationship with Jesus. But it’s also true that sometimes being offended is just what we need. What do I mean? Well, just think about an intervention, or a cancer diagnosis, when an uncomfortable truth gets pushed in uninvited, but after the initial sting wears off, potentially it leads to a better position. Leads to rehab and then to sobriety, or leads to surgery and chemo which improve the quality or length of that person’s life. Today, I want to call this kind of painful truth—this tough love—the best offense. Here’s how it happened to me:
I had come to a very low point in my life. All my relationships had soured, and keeping busy was my only defense against the flood of anxiety and depression. Eventually I was so weary of this and simply wanted to understand; HOW had I lost so many friends? WHY had my marriage come to feel so hollow? WHAT had triggered the avalanche of depressing thoughts that I could fend off only with frenzied business? Genuinely searching for understanding, I cried out to God. To my amazement, He answered! It was not an audible voice in my ear, but rather a sudden crystalline awareness that no doubt did NOT come from my own thoughts. It was an instant clarity about…well…my sin. My wrong-doing. A habitual part of my life was suddenly revealed to me for just how destructive it had been. I was shocked and embarrassed. But that painful truth turned out to be the best offense…
Sir Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” Yeah, that’s pretty much how I responded at the time, but before I continue my story, let me ask you this: Did you know the Bible says something similar about the cross of Christ? The cross is called a “stumbling stone” or “rock of offense” meaning it is something that we can easily trip over. Yes, that’s in the Bible! But what is it specifically about the cross that can trip us up? It’s this, the cross pulls back the curtain on our feeble attempts to excuse our wrongs. It points out the hard truth that we cannot take care of our own sin problem. We cannot clean up our own mess. Like the alcoholic who depends on rehab or the patient who needs surgery, so we too are pushed to admit that we are weak, that we can’t do this ourselves. Pushed to acknowledge that we are sinners, and that no matter how much we chalk up in the “good” column, it will never eradicate the bad things we’ve done. Will never cancel out the debt of sin that separates us from God. Sure, we may be able to make ourselves feel better about our wrongs by focusing on the moments we are more proud of. We may be able to give others an impression of being a “good person”. But God, the one who knows our hearts, who can hear our words before we even say them, He sees that we cannot measure up to His standard of perfect holiness. And the cross of Jesus, where He died a criminal’s death to pay our debt of sin, pushes us to reckon with that reality, too. Let’s put a pin in that and switch back to my story for a moment…
Not much changed after that initial revelation. After tripping over that truth, I picked myself up and tried my best to keep busy, tried not to leave a lot of room for thinking. But then, a couple months later I found myself in a real predicament as I came face-to-face with that very same sin. Not just face to face, but that temptation got all up in my face. Now that I recognized how very harmful it had been, I knew for sure I didn’t want to make the same mistakes. Like a slow-motion fall, I watched the pavement coming closer, could anticipate the certain pain of impact, but could not get my feet underneath me to catch myself.
Desperate, I cried out again to God, “HELP!” I told Him how powerfully I was being pulled towards the very thing He had recently unmasked. Told Him about the war within, simultaneously wanting both to give in and to flee from this sin. Powerfully. Miraculously. Beautifully He came to my rescue, doing what I was not able to do, giving me a reprieve from that battle. That was the beginning of a new way of life.
A Good Defense
Imagine yourself summoned to court. A stone-faced judge dispassionately reads a list of charges against you and you stand, mute, knowing…knowing you are absolutely guilty of what you’re accused of. Now imagine the judge looking you in the eye and then asking, “How do you plead?” Your stomach drops, your forehead beads with sweat, your mouth is like cotton…
When we stumble over a painful truth, like that awareness of my sinful habit, we naturally must respond to it in some way. Maybe our response is to rush off headlong into our busy lives as if nothing happened. Or maybe we search for something to numb ourselves from the sting of truth. Sometimes we scramble to build a wall of defenses, stockpiling excuses layered with supposed good deeds—our own private arsenal to fire back at those guilty accusations. But are any of these truly a good defense?
[Meanwhile, back in that courtroom] …your head is spinning and the judge’s words are ringing in your ears. You swallow and part your lips to respond even while your thoughts are scrambling for an excuse…but before you can speak a word, the heavy silence is broken: “Sentence has already been served, your honor.” Your lawyer, your Advocate proclaims confidently, matter-of-factly.
Maybe you have stumbled over this hard truth from the Bible, the death sentence demanded by your guilt. If so, I want to make sure you know there’s another way we can respond. We can gaze at the cross and recognize that it holds an amazing demonstration of God’s love for us. Yes, it forces us to admit that we are sinners in need of a Savior. But it also declares the precious truth that Jesus has already done for us what we cannot do: He has served our death sentence for us. Our inability to meet God’s requirement of perfect holiness is a rock we can easily trip over, but you don’t have to pick yourself up and rush off like nothing happened—you can bow your heart before Jesus and accept the overwhelming generosity of His gift, His death as your substitute. You can accept the charity of His righteousness put to your account, a perfect righteousness you could never manufacture on your own. Those who will humbly accept this gift, who don’t get “offended” by the cross, can bask in the peace of good standing with God in this life. Peace with the righteous Judge of all! And they can look forward to spending all of eternity with Him in Heaven. Talk about a good defense!
I hope you enjoy this dove ornament. As you look at it throughout the season, let the symbolism of the dove remind you of peace with God. Imagine the serenity of knowing that you don’t have to strive to obtain this; you can accept it as a gift from Jesus, the one who died in your place.
Thank you for allowing me to share with you about my relationship with Jesus. I wish you and your family peace and joy this holiday season and in the new year.