Taking the Bait

The phrase “hook, line and sinker” comes from the idea that a fish may not just take the bait but could take the hook, the weight and the fishing line too. The phrase is used when someone ‘swallows something hook, line and sinker’, i.e. they are completely taken in, particularly by a deception of some description. Maybe I have spent too much time around fishing ports recently, but I have been thinking about this idea of fish taking the bait and how we can be tempted. Satan, the father of lies and deception lays out an attractive-looking bait for us, a lure to tempt us, and before we know it we have bitten, taken the bait, exactly as he intended and we are hooked into something we should never have even contemplated.

One of the shiniest, most attractive hooks that seems to be an effective lure for us in the body of Christ, one that causes such division amongst us, is offence. The reality is that people upset us and hurt us and cause us offence, usually completely unintentionally. Offence can be defined as “annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself”. The word “perceived” is important – it is about how we see a situation, regardless of the truth of it. Sometimes we see correctly and although unintentionally, there is a real hurt due to the other person’s words or actions. But how often have we heard of people who have misconstrued a situation and taken offence because of their interpretation of events? We may even have done it ourselves. Maybe we need to consider that we filter everything through our lenses, the way we look at life and, just as in the natural, our eyesight can need correction, sometimes the lenses that we see situations and people through may need correction or refinement too.

The prayer Jesus taught his disciples has this all important line in Matthew 6:12

And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.

We know this verse well and hopefully understand the idea that we need to forgive those who have upset us or hurt us, whether intentionally or not.  It was so liberating for me, as a young Christian, to discover the freedom that comes from letting go of the bitterness and resentment in my heart that had festered from holding onto unforgiveness over things done to me years ago.  I learned that my unforgiveness  hurts me, not those who hurt me, and that as I released it all to God, it allowed the process of healing to begin in my heart.  

As I set off on my latest road trip, God was talking to me about places where I had taken offence recently. I spent the part of my journey talking to God about this and forgiving people. But then God started talking to me about the issue of judgement. This is where I had formed an opinion of someone based on my experience of being offended by them. I was reminded of Matthew 7:1-2

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Not only had I become offended but I had allowed judgement to enter my heart. I had decided how I thought things should be, how I should be treated, what I wanted to happen. I thought I knew best. When life did not work out how I decided it should, I was upset, I was hurt, I was disappointed. I needed to release forgiveness towards people. However, I had also made judgements in my heart towards people. It is one thing to experience disappointment and hurt in life but it is another to allow that to tempt us to make judgements, especially about brothers and sisters in Christ. Those judgements can lead us into behaviours like criticism, gossip, condemnation, accusation and all sorts of ugly, ungodly behaviour. James 5:9 exhorts us

Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Unless we deal with our pain and hurt instantly before God, we can be tempted to seek comfort from family and friends as we rehearse the pain, talk about the people who have hurt us and, as we describe the situation, present it in a way that seeks to get our audience ‘on our side’, to agree that we have been wronged and to join us in our judgement of the other person. I know that this can be a real temptation. Actually talking about other people, whether related to our hurts or not, is tempting. Proverbs 18:8 acknowledges that:

Gossip is so tasty — how we love to swallow it!

Proverbs 16:28 tells us that gossip separates. The plan of the enemy is always to bring about division. In the garden, temptation separated Adam and Eve from God and brought division between them too. I became aware, as I worked through each person that Holy Spirit brought to mind, that the judgement in my heart had created division too that I hadn’t realised. I had built walls in my heart towards certain people in order to protect my heart from future hurt and disappointment. Effectively, I had distanced myself emotionally from these people. This self-protective behaviour is based in fear not love.

I think judgement can be related back to eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden. The temptation is for us to judge what is good, to judge what is right, to think we know best in any given situation. Ultimately it relates to the sin of pride where we set ourselves up as judge and jury. I think this is such a key issue right now.

As I have travelled recently, I encountered this issue of judgement and building walls frequently in myself and others. One reason was I visited churches and fellowships where things are done differently. I was aware of a temptation to decide, in my arrogance, whether they are doing things “right”, to judge what they are doing, their worship, their faith and so on. Oh my word, God forgive me! Why do I want everyone to look like me or act in a way that makes me feel comfortable?! How often has this created problems in the God’s family? The myriad of denominations is testament to this. I have heard people talking about other believers, other fellowships or churches, other leaders and other ministries in derogatory or judgmental ways. God allowed me to feel some of his pain at this division between brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. It has made me weep. Jesus prayed for us in the garden, before he went to the cross, in John 17:20-23

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

We want the world to know that the Father of love sent Jesus Christ. It is love that should be my driving force, not a critical, judgmental eye. There are all sorts of reasons why we might feel the need to act like this, often to do with our own inadequacies and wounds from the past. The trouble is it is not my job to weigh people, to judge them and decide if they are lacking in some way. My job is to love as Jesus commanded in John 13. My job is to remember Matthew 7:3

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

As someone who God has gifted to prophetically see things, in people, situations and organisations, I need to be so careful that my heart is healthy and healed so that the filter my observations come through is the love of Jesus Christ for his bride. I need to see her as he sees her, to see people as he sees them. I need to remember that they are made in his image, and that they are family. My job is not to bring division but to help the body of Christ reach maturity so that we can reveal the fullness of Jesus Christ on the earth. In Ephesians 2:14 Paul talks about how Jesus Christ reconciled the Jews and Gentiles making them one in him, the principle is the same for all believers, whatever the differences:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…

The book of Ephesians has had a lot to say to me on the subject of maturing as a believer, on unity and how to handle life in the body so I will finish with one passage (Ephesians 4:2-6) that has refocused me in this issue of offence and judgement, as I go back to Jesus with my favourite prayer “Help!”.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.