We live in a world that people get offended a lot. It seems worse now that social media and the mainstream media are able to publicize everything to the world with just a push of a button. When someone gets upset about something, or someone’s opinion, they tend to derail. They get offended and then begin to express why their opinion is more important than the other persons.
A lot of times people get offended easily because they believe the comment was directed straight towards them. Even though it wasn’t, there is a guilty part of that person’s mind that thinks that it is them. They feel that they are being spoken to directly and in turn it hurts their feelings.
People back down to the truth in a lot of scenarios. They are afraid that they will hurt someone’s feelings so they don’t point out things that can be potentially helpful for others.
We see this type of action a lot in the church today. Preachers are afraid to step on the toes of the members of the church because they don’t want to hurt them. From experience, I have seen more people respond to the Lord’s invitation when someone is stepping on their toes than when they are not. Why? Because the obvious has been pointed out to them and there is a guilty part in them that knows that what they are doing is wrong. Although the preacher was not directly speaking to them, they know that they need Him.
Do we need to stop saying or doing something just because someone is offended? Absolutely not. Jesus offended people often. Did He stop? Did His actions of offending people stop him from preaching and teaching the truth? When a person takes offense to something, a lot of the times, it tells much more about the heart of that person rather than the one who offended them.
In John, Jesus was preaching and during His sermon, He stopped to ask one simple question, “Does this offend you?”. Did Jesus stop and change the message He was preaching because the crowd was offended? Did He soften up his words to avoid any more confrontation? No. Jesus didn’t. As a matter of fact, He kept preaching and then went on to add even more to His sermon.
Christians should work on spreading God’s word. Make sure it is the truth. Point out things that are not scriptural and stand firm on what you believe. People that live in sin or have dishonest hearts will always be offended when others share the truth.
We should always strive to be Christlike. Do not go out looking to offend people just to make them mad. There are ways to bring them to the truth without tearing them apart. Social media is a good tool to help spread the truth. You will offend people but you will also open the eyes of others. Stand firm on your beliefs and make sure they align with what Christ teaches.
If you have been offended in any way and what you were offended by is in line with the values of Christ, please take the time to rethink what is important in your life.
If this post has offended anyone, I will pray that your eyes will open up to what God wants for you.
God is Good…
30 Second Thoughts 