Truth not offense is intended

   A young woman was apparently offended at my attempt to deliver a truth.  I wanted to give her a well-reasoned answer so she would know I meant her no offense.  I was only interested in offering truth to benefit all readers.

  She evidently is not interested.  Because, when I tried to send the below message it was blocked.  I decided to expand on that message and explore the situation and myself, as I do not want to offend yet I know that the truth is offensive to some no matter how much we try to prevent that outcome.

Here goes:

   If you will go back and think though what I had written, I believe you will not find a personal attack. Rather, I was trying to draw attention to the consequences of letting out mixed messages.  The logic I attempted to convey is this entreaty to everyone: we all would do well to think about the messages we put out to others for their consumption.

  When the message is mixed, people, and especially those closest to us become confused about what we are teaching.  After all, we are all teachers, therefore making our message certain is important.  1Corinthians 14:7-8 “And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?  For if, the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself…”

   We all are guilty of leadership mistakes, which confuse.  As we grow in experience and wisdom, we learn to put away confusion to promote truth more and more.  You was not targeted, I am sorry that you took offense.  I am after all still an amateur writer and still learning to write my message more clearly.  I will all the more endeavor to prevent confusion in the future.

   However when trying to covey the truth there will always be people who will be offended, which is an unfortunate truth.  The reasons are many and varied.  Money and pride may be the most prevalent of all.  Certainly not wanting to face the guilt of giving the wrong message is a reason many hide from hearing the truth.  Hearing and believing the message of God’s forgiveness will help us all admit we erred or sinned, and then receive forgiveness.

   Jesus gave His Life on the Cross-at Calvary so we can have forgiveness for our trust-passes, errors, and outright sins.  Admitting to God we are guilty is the first step to getting our message to others right.  Because once we are forgiven we no longer have to feel shame… we are after all forgiven and now children of God.  Our message to others becomes genuine. We start learning to put away the things that beset the message and ourselves.  Those besetting things could be saying a message is wrong or bad yet on the other hand accepted because the medium of delivery is enticing.

   The credibility of the message is at stake as is the eternal life of our friends and children.  When hearing a mixed message they may lose faith in the truth.  Our Children and friends could choose wrong then having to face the Eternal Judge they will say they did not believe because to them our message was not credible. 

John L. Kinikin