Vindication and Offense
I know we Christians throw the phrase "your identity in Christ" around a lot, but it is so true. If we don't allow the Holy Spirit to shape our identity, Satan will always tell us a lie of who we are. It took me 30 years of marriage to believe the truth of what God said about me. I didn't set out for an identity overhaul when I was crying out to God for a miracle, but when you seek God and His character---when you seek His thoughts about you-----you will be changed, too!
One of the areas that God radically changed me was my need to vindicate myself. I know that sounds like a very normal response to a situation. It could sound like this, "I am just setting you straight” or “Yeah, but let me tell you..." What I was saying always felt right. I was just “taking up for myself.” But, the more time I spent in the Bible and learning these scriptures, the more my mind began to change about vindication:
Romans 12:19 “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”
Isaiah 54:17 “‘No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,' declares the Lord.”
Proverbs 20:22 “Do not say, ‘I'll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”
Psalms 135:14 “For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.”
I really didn't like these scriptures because it felt good to give my two cents. What God was revealing to me is that the root of vindication is pride and unbelief.
When you feel completely justified to vindicate yourself, what you're really saying is, "God, I don't trust You enough to set things right.”
Justification is the insidious lie of the enemy. The biggest struggle to believe that God will vindicate us is that we struggle to believe that He will do it the way we want it done and when we want it done. Doing our own vindication (and justification) feels good to our emotions, but it's not God's way.
The more I sought God (and studied those scriptures) I knew that the Holy Spirit was saying to me,
"Be quick to repent and be quick to forgive."
Every time I prayed, that was what I heard. God was teaching me 3 things about vindication:
to trust in Him and Shut Up.....that one took awhile
that what Tim said about me was not my identity
that humility is not a doormat- it's supernatural POWER filtered through the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) which are LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL
I discovered that vindication hides itself in OFFENSE! Offense is an attack of the enemy. There are many levels of being offended, such as always seeming to get our feelings hurt or “just can't” forgive. Offense can be found in our everyday lives, church, marriages, friendships, work, traffic. Being offended is no respecter of persons, so do not think that the enemy won't try to come in with justified emotions (which are often offended emotions).
Here are some scriptures:
1 Peter 5:8 "Be alert and of sober mind, your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
1 Peter 3:9 "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."
........yeah I didn't like those either.....
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:8-11 about how to not live in offense. All of 2 Corinthians is a great read.
Offense is a place that Satan can plague our emotions to keep us from the best of what God has for us. God does not bless an offended emotion. Even a blessing that is right is front of us will be viewed as an offense; this would be cursing a blessing.
My identity is always moving in faith, my TRUE identity is found in the REVELATION of who Christ is in me.
I pray that we seek God and let the Holy Spirit speak to each of us about Who we are, the truth of our identity.