You're Guaranteed to be Offended

My Father once told me that there are only two guarantees in life: Death & Taxes.  While he is right, Jesus taught that there is another guarantee in life: We're Guaranteed to be Offended.  Many times in our lives, we allow trivial matters to dictate our beliefs and feelings toward our fellow man.  Often we hold grudges for weeks, months, even years over something that somebody said or did that we viewed as offensive.  To many, the offense would seem trivial, but to us, it's a mountain.  To be easily offended means that we are resentful, annoyed, even insulted because of the words, actions, or beliefs of somebody else.  When somebody, even someone that we've known for years offends us in some way, we may dwell on it, obsess over it, even be willing to sever years of friendship over it.  

I know this because I'm guilty of it.  I know from my own experience that when we allow ourselves to be easily offended, we are unhappy, often complaining and finger-pointing instead of examining the facts.  We develop an assumption that we're always right, and we view those who offend us as being "wrong" and "imperfect."  What we fail to realize is that we too have been wrong at some point in our lives, we too are "imperfect."   Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 states "Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.  Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others."  Proverbs 19:11 further states "Good sense makes one slow to anger, and in his glory overlook an offense."  When somebody says or does something that you find annoying, or "offensive," instead of responding with anger and indignation, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I easily offended because there's an element of truth to the comment or action?
• Am I easily offended because somebody said something that I just don't happen to agree with?
• Am I easily offended because I'm just looking to be offended?   

Remember, nobody can make us feel offended, we choose it.  Will it be difficult at times to remain "un-offended" by some things that people believe or do?  Yes, but can we really stop them?  No.  We can't choose their actions, but we can choose our responses, such as forgiveness, letting go, giving the benefit of the doubt, & talking ourselves down.  During his ministry, Jesus warned his Disciples that "If the World Hates You, Know that it Hated Me Before it Hated You," John 15:18.  Jesus further taught us that "The Lord's Servant Must not be Quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil," 2 Timothy 2:24.  This is why our Lord urged us to forgive & "turn the other cheek," Matthew 5:39.  For Jesus knows that this is the path to finding peace with our offenders, & ourselves.  

When I made the mistake of choosing to hold grudges over "offenses," I was only hurting myself.  I want to bed angry and woke up angry, but in the end, I never felt any better.  It was only after I chose to follow the lesson that Jesus taught that I learned to stop obsessing over offensives and find peace with myself.  Choosing to obsess over offenses, micro-aggression's, and trigger-warnings and making it your life's pursuit to try and eliminate it by any means is basically like drinking poison while hoping the other person dies from it.  For in the end, you're not helping to create a more "tolerable" world, you're holding on to your resentment, and that will never bring you peace.  In the end, you'll just find new reasons to be offended, and you'll remain bitter at the world, and yourself.  Sooner or later, we'll all have to understand that whether we like it or not, we're all going to become offended by an individual's words, actions, or beliefs, but don't dwell on it.  Trust in the teachings of the Lord, and the Lord will guide you through it, and who knows?  Maybe this action will help you look at things a little differently, and help teach you something that you never knew before.