Have you ever been offended? Do you remember how it felt?

Offense is very prevalent in this world and also in the body of Christ. In the church, offense is a huge stumbling block to the salvation of the lost, our ability to work in unity as the body of Christ, and to our own personal freedom in Christ. Offense has broken up many church's and caused much division in the body of Christ. 

 
For many years, I never paid attention to the numerous warnings in the Bible about offense and the trap that it is. Years ago, when I first took notice of the warnings, I was not even sure if I had been offended or caused offense to anyone. But once I realized what it was, I knew that I had fallen into the offense trap, and led others into it, an untold number of times in my life. 

The words used for offense in the New Testament, literally mean the trigger of a trap, the place in a trap where the bait is hung, and to fall into a trap.

4624 skandalízō – properly, set a snare ("stumbling-block"); (figuratively) "to hinder right conduct or thought; to cause to stumble" – literally, "to fall into a trap" (Abbott-Smith) 

4625 skándalon – properly, the trigger of a trap (the mechanism closing a trap down on the unsuspecting victim); (figuratively) an offense, putting a negative cause-and-effect relationship into motion. A stick for bait (of a trap).

As followers of Christ, I believe it is critical to see offense for what it is and how it can imprison us, destroy our lives and the lives of others. While we cannot prevent others from doing things that have the potential to offend us, we can learn how to stay out of the trap called offense and to avoid offending others.

Satan's Trap
Many times, in my life, I fell into the trap of offense…