Tuesday, May 26, 2015

to be offended

I apologized last week for something that I wrote in the blog and a reader took me to task for apologizing, and to some degree, rightfully so.

What I wrote was not meant to be hurtful or offensive.  The reader pointed out that people can choose to take offense or not.  Now this is a fine line, and I run the risk here of emphasizing one side of the discussion and not another.

We should not hurt others.  But, things come to us all the time that challenge us and are even at times painful.  We can choose how to respond.  We can choose to take offense or we can choose to not take offense.

Remember 1 Cor 13?  Love keeps no record of wrongs.  So, while I don't ever want to hurt others, and neither should the rest of us, we also need to take responsibility for how we respond to things that we find challenging.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeff, you have been and continue to be just the best teacher of truth, in writing your blogs, living your life, and in your sermons. Today's post is full of wisdom.

I would like to add that the ability to not be hurt by comments of others is not something everyone is able to do. It takes someone who has a healthy sense of self-confidence. It also takes maybe days, maybe years, of growing in the grace of God, to understand that if you are a child of the King, no one else except God can define who you are.

Your posts will continue to help believers grow in whichever areas of their life God is bringing them along in.

God bless.

Anonymous said...

Not to drag out and belabor this very interesting subject, but one other aspect of choosing to let someone hurt your feelings is related to the "Do Unto Others" teaching.

If you hurt my feelings, why do I need to make sure you know it? Is it because it makes me feel better that two people are hurting now, instead of just me?