Offend To Expose

What I have painfully learned over the course of my life is that God will often offend my mind to expose my heart.

In John, chapter 6, we see this sobering thought that the men who had hopped on a boat in search for the One they called, “Rabbi” (verse 25), were only looking for Him to be fed.  Jesus had just performed the miracle of food multiplication, and the band of so-called “students" were, once again, hungry and looking for provision.  

Jesus tells them, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.  But don’t be concerned with perishable things like food.  Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you.”  (verses 26-27)

But there was more to their inquiry: they wanted to perform the miracles too.

And Jesus responds, “The only work God wants from you is to believe in the One He sent you.”  (verse 29)

But they pressed Him further, “Show us a miraculous sign IF You want us to believe in You.  What can You do?” (verse 30)

Oh the stubbornness of the hard-hearted people.
It’s almost unbelievable to read.

We see Jesus explaining that He is the bread of life, and whoever comes to Him will never be hungry again.

And they still couldn’t accept His words.

Scripture tells us that they made several mistakes here:
they began to “murmur” in disagreement.  (verse 41)
they were “complaining” about what He had said.  (verse 43)
they began “arguing” with each other about what He meant.  (verse 52)
they were “offended” over His odd teaching.  (verse 61)

And it would ultimately be the things that blinded their eyes, and made them unable to receive Him as Lord.  Sadly scripture tells us that, “At that point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him.”  (verse 66)

And so we see here such a great example of the way these “followers” of Jesus fell away.
It was by their murmuring, their complaining, their arguing, and their well preserved offense.

Offense in the bible is not the same as the word offense is in our English language today.  The biblical definition for offense is “stumbling block.”
Ultimately we see that Jesus was less concerned about “feelings” (what we associate with the word offense today), and more concerned about the inevitable injury sustained by sin-filled choices.

These men used the words of Jesus… the ones who were, “spirit and life” (verse 63), to offend their minds… to put a stumbling block between their flesh and righteous Kingdom-living… and it ultimately caused a rejection that exposed their true heart and resulted in untimely spiritual death.

Jesus seems to have been more willing to work with unbelief than He was willing to work with offensive spirits who were filled with murmuring, complaints, and arguing.  The very stumbling blocks they erected with contaminated hands.

God will often offend our minds to expose my heart.
What will He find?