What offends you?
For some of you, it’s watching a movie exhibiting such blatant idiocy that you felt your intelligence was insulted. For some, a conversation at the dinner table where your personal opinions were challenged was enough to leave you miffed. For others, it’s the perversion seen in some of the more “adult” magazines, or perhaps a glass of wine at the dinner table.
So you were offended. What did you do with it?
Offense is a natural response to injustice and personal degradation. However, I believe that offense is the first step in a much greater reaction. Either we are motivated towards active change, or we are imprisoned in self-imposed bitterness. We cannot simply be offended and leave it at that. Anger and indigence have been created – they will take on one form or another, whether we are conscious of it or not.
Unfortunately, within the Body of Christ, that form is often ugly.
The community of believers has become a sub-group easily offended, a stark contrast to a promo-culture where it’s all “ok”. We have taken the Word of God, the guidelines of our faith, and allowed ourselves to be pulled apart, insulted by trivial items, left bickering about meaningless things.
One person considers alcohol of any kind to be hedonistic. Another sees the media as a microphone for evil, to be avoided at all costs. We know the usual delinquents – sex, drugs and rock and roll. We debate among each other, judge each other, gripe about each other, and section ourselves off, avoiding those who “live in the world”…by our estimation, anyways. Offense, within the body of Christ, can act as the most significant source of spiritual cancer.
Be aware, dear friends, of a common rule of offense – it is easier to be angry at what or who offended you than it is to actively change a situation. That’s the trick, isn’t it? Our natural response to offense is to avoid the issue, shun those involved, and dwell in our resentment. Allow me to insert some Confucius-style wisdom here: Greater is he who allows offense to move him towards positive change.
It’s proven time and again throughout history. Few people are remembered for being embittered by insult. Instead, we tend to remember those movers and shakers who were offended by their world and allowed that insult to move them towards change. Just look at a few familiar faces on the MVP list: Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., America’s founding fathers, Winston Churchill, William Wallace – these are people who stood up and fought against what offended them. These are not extraordinary people. These are average, ordinary human beings. We remember them with honor and awe. Why? They took the harder road. They did what few of us can easily do, and transformed insult into positive change.
So, friends, allow me to challenge you – have you allowed your brush with an extremely conservative, or perhaps equally strong liberal, Christian to riddle you with frustration, or move you towards love despite differences? It’s not easy. Have you allowed your perceptions of righteous living to become an open conversation rather than a bottom line that those around you must succumb to? We cannot embrace schisms within our community with cool indifference when we ourselves are indebted to the grace that we are. It’s easy to berate a viewpoint that offends. It’s harder to take the road to love and grace in the midst of disagreement.
Offense without action or reconciliation is a lot of hot air. It’s not enough to be angry at arrogance. Your annoyance will do little to build up the community of believers. The more we can move towards being offended instead by our petty quarrels in the presence of our Lord, the more we can move towards actively loving one another in the midst of surrounding indifference.
