Being Offended

“I’m offended.”

“Well I’m offended that you’re offended.”

Why are we choosing to be offended? When I was growing up there was a saying about wearing your feelings on your shirt sleeves. People who were open about their feelings, “letting all hang out” in hippie lingo, was considered immature. Yet today, our entire culture seems to be filled with “my feelings.” Why is one person’s feelings more important than another’s?

We seem to have become a very self-centered society. What happened to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” Philippians 2:3 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. ” We are certainly experiencing a lot of strife today.

Psalm 119:165 says, “Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” It is our choice to be offended. We can whine and cry and blame everyone else for our problems or we can “pick ourselves up by our bootstraps”, turn to God, and ask Him to take care of us and our situations. On the other hand, we are to “speak the truth in love, let nothing be done for selfishness and vainglory, and let our speech be used to encourage and edify one another.” These are some of God’s principals.

The Jews were in bondage to Egypt for 400 years, and were beaten and treated cruelly, even having their male babies murdered at birth (must have been partial birth abortion, right?) so they could not grow into a mighty army. They cried out to God in desperation and God sent them a deliverer in the person of Moses.

God hears the cries of His children. If you have not asked Him to forgive you of your sins, thanked Him for taking the penalty (death with eternity spent in the lake of fire) for your sin, and accepted Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sin, you are not God’s child (according to God’s holy word, the King James Bible). God may still answer your prayers but He doesn’t owe any of us, His children or not, any thing. He gave us His very best by sacrificing His only begotten Son on a cruel cross roughly 2000 years ago.

If anyone feels trampled on, treated unfairly, abused, deprived, etc., then turn to God ans ask Him what His purpose is in that. Romans 8:28 says, “For we know that all things work together for good, to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose.” Did you catch that? EVERY THING, every situation, every illness, every inconvenience, every heartache, will be used for our good and God’s glory–IF WE LET HIM. God doesn’t force Himself or His will on anyone. But I can testify through my own experiences that God has always come through for us. Do I always get my way? No. Does everything always work out the way I want it to? No. But I love and serve a supreme God who is strong, mighty, powerful, who controls the storms, the elements, directs people’s lives. I have learned that I can trust Him.

However, there are conditions. God expects us to take responsibility for our own decisions and actions. He expects us to honor and obey Him. He expects us to take care of the resources He has given us. If you rent property and trash it because it isn’t yours, God will not honor you, nor will He give you something better. Luke 16:10 says, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Luke 12:48 says, “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” This illustrates to sides of the same principal. When we take care of what we have (that doesn’t mean hoard and keep it all for ourselves), God honors that. It shows Him that we have “an attitude of gratitude.” We take care of what we have, whether it belongs to us (a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, etc.), it is a testimony of His grace and mercy towards us. When we destroy it or let it run down because we don’t care because it doesn’t belong to us, we bring dishonor to His name.

Let’s stop blaming, criticizing, pointing fingers. Let’s stop fighting one another and demanding “our rights.” Although our Constitution gives us rights, they can be changed, as they have been many times over the years, but God only gives us the right to live until He determines our time on earth is done. Let’s not forget that God is ruler above all rulers and He created and gave us Ten Commandments. Let’s try to obey them lest we incur His wrath.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is not geared toward any particular segment of society. We all fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. Scripture says so.