Are you a prickly pear?

Prickly pear

Are you a prickly pear cactus? Do you get easily offended with people?  Or do you know someone who is easily offended with you or other people?  Jesus said in Matthew 24:10 that in the end times many would be offended, turn away from Him, and hate each other.

Many times people who are easily offended have been deeply wounded. Maybe they have hurts that go all the way back to childhood which they have never healed from and so they are offended.  They might have stockpiles of resentment, bitterness, wounds that they have never released. 

Yet the person they are hurting the most is themselves. They are like the prickly pear cactus, which has pointed spines. It’s hard for other people to be around them. 

The prickly pear is a staple in the diets of Mexican and Central American people. The prickly pear’s pads can be eaten as a vegetable.  The pads can be grilled with olive oil and lime juice, boiled, or eaten in a salad with cilantro, tomatoes, onion, and jalapenos.  The pear can be eaten as a fruit or drank as juice.  It is good for stabilizing blood sugar and is supposed to even help lower “bad” cholesterol. It is considered a gourmet food in America.

But the prickly pear has to be handled very delicately because it has spines that can be easily lodged in the skin, which are hard to see and even harder to remove.  This is the way it is with “prickly pear” people.  Their “spines” stick out everywhere and poke you. I don’t want to  be a prickly pear, do you? 

Jesus has called us to walk in love and forgiveness, free of offense.  If you are struggling with offense today, come to God and ask Him to help you by His grace to let it go. It’s just not worth it. Why let satan keep you miserable and steal your peace and your joy?  Forgive that person and let it go.

If it is someone who is offended with you, go to them and ask forgiveness. Reconcile. Life is so short.  Walk in humility. Jesus chose to not have offenses, even on the cross. Let’s be like Jesus, not like a prickly pear!

To learn more, join me for my podcast today, Offense Free.

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