Beyond even that action is the effect it has on me. My motives need to be pure and sincere in any act or decision I make. The measure of love for God through me toward others should be increasing. That love ministers with God-given knowledge and discernment based on God’s word, not my opinions. The objective is that it will be demonstrated when the best things are approved and there is genuine integrity in my dealings with others. I will be fully committed to do what is right.
To be without offense simply means God intends me to be blameless morally. There should be no covering of “wax” put in or over the flaws I want to keep hidden from others. God intends the wrong habits, attitudes and actions I may have excused in my life should not be there at all, let alone try to cover them with some excuse. There is a time coming at the rapture of the church and the judgment seat of Christ when everything will be exposed as to what it really is right before the Lord. “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
In order to maintain and nurture assembly relationships in the way God intended, there are steps we have to take by our own choice. Character traits are given in the new Testament in five lists. If these are attended to, they will make relational living, not a chore, but a natural way of virtuous living. “Virtues” are traits of moral excellence that are formed because we want them to be the way we really are. These are things I can do to make my assembly life significant and make me willing to accept my responsibility to the assembly joyfully.