“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”
1 Peter 2:7-8
We all saw Will hit Chris at the Oscars. Will was monumentally triggered. Triggers are pesky problems, they surface when we least want them too and they embarrass. Long held offences are the main culprits for triggering us.
Skandalon is the Greek word for offence in above text. It is the word used for the ‘tripstick’ of a snare, the mechanism or ‘trigger’ of a trap that causes the capture of a prey, the thing that causes the capture of prey. Jesus is the Skandalon. He is the Rock of Offense. Jesus is the Ultimate Trigger. When you judge, He shows your need for grace, when you refuse to judge, He shows you your fear of man … in so many diverse ways, the Lord presses humanities buttons.
A whole generation’s button was pressed by Christ when He came the first time. They wanted a Che Guevara and all that got was a beat up rabbi from Nazareth! Alexander Souter says skandalon is ‘the native rock rising up through the earth’ to trip up the locals. God uses the familiar which often becomes offensive because familiarity does breed scorn. Christ’s kingdom is paradoxical, He is the King of Paradox and spending time with Him causes our hypocrisy and love of the world to float to the top like floating scum on a broth.
Offences must come. Revealing the things that cause us to be entrapped must come because they reveal our heart and the light of Jesus always reveals the heart because light sterilizes. God’s kind of love is not easily offended, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. Agape love is not easily triggered. Why are we so easily triggered? Why do we pick up offence so easily? Is it because we have buried the offences we cling to? We love to hold onto our offences, as though by doing so, we someone how justify the harm done to us. Yet more than often, we are hypocrites, because have we not harmed others in exactly the same way?
If you are triggered by something, be sure it is smoking-gun-evidence that your cross still need to be picked up in that area of your life. Do a trigger audit on your life. Live circumspectly. Understand the signals and trigger that make you react. Jesus will help you see them because He loves I so. You don’t slam doors or grumble a curse under your breath, without cause. Something is going on in us long before our behaviour manifests it. Jesus will Trigger you! He will offend you! He will unease you! He lovingly does this in order to reach our heart! Triggers are great because they help pin point the areas in us that need emergency repairs and healing. Those things that self-sabotage us! Jesus the Rock of Offence will show you what they are.
Carrying offences grieve the Holy Spirit. Offences constrict the flow of the anointing as our offended heart squeezes out God’s grace to others and self. Some have built memorials to past offences by family members, close friends, church leaders and work colleagues … some last decades and erode the joy of the Lord from freely flowing in our hearts.
Let it go! Forgive. Its easier to forgive when you see what your sin did to Christ. Let us meditate on the cross. When Scandalon reveals Himself to you and by that I mean, He triggers your triggers – give thanks to the Lord of Triggers because He is revealing the very area of your heart He wants to bring healing!
A Prayer of the Offended
“Oh Lord, offend that which can still be offended in me. Press my buttons Lord Jesus. Pull my triggers that I may have no more triggers to pull. I give you all my triggers Lord. Rid me of all offences, Lord. I have no right to hold on to any. Free me from all my triggers and heal my soul Lord as I gaze alone upon the grace in your face. Perfect your love in my heart Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”