1715) The word offensive has been in the forefront of media coverage for a while. What used to mean an action that rubbed against or completely broke the morals of a group of people now has become any action or word that another person doesn’t like. So, under this definition, everyone is offensive and experiences it. Jeremiah 23:13 sheds a different light on this word.

In this verse, Jeremiah says he saw an offensive thing. In this context, people in Samaria were teaching, modeling, and pressuring God’s people to turn away from him and to the god of that day, Baal. Here, their actions were offensive to God; they were unsavory to him. Why?

Is it because God wants all the glory and honor he deserves? Perhaps, but it’s also because God knows when we turn anywhere except to him, it’s a dead end. Nothing good can come of it because God is the essence of good.

As you are exposed to “offensive” things, it can become a reminder of why sin is offensive to God. He wants you to have an abundant life, and that does not include the offensive things we do against him. John 10:10.