Isn't it funny how easily we can get offended?
I am a sensitive person, and easily 25 times a day I can get my feelings hurt. But when you really take a moment and think about it, why are people so easily offended? Was it a miscommunication? Are you guilty of what they accused you of doing? Is that something you've been working on and it hurts to know you're not doing any better? Why can words be so hurtful and damaging?
One of my favorite quotes is "Be sure to taste your words before you spit them out." It's so easy in ministry, in life, at work or home to just spit out the words we are thinking. We feel a sense of entitlement to say whatever is our minds because we are "just being honest." We are so funny, we think we have this right to act a certain way, when we really only have the right to be kind and tenderhearted.{Eph 4:23} We don't have a right to be rude, to be harsh or sarcastic with a smile. God has a tendency to put people in our lives that are different than us. Maybe the way we would handle or respond to a situation is the the exact opposite of how they would respond. So, when they act a certain way we are offended. We "get in our feelings" so to speak. And a wall goes up. We become hard or annoyed instead of being soft and teachable.
I wonder sometimes if God is sitting up there thinking, you could have avoided this confrontation if you had simply learned the lesson when I first gave it to you. Becoming offended or angry is not the answer. The Bible says "Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them." I cannot tell you how many times that verse has popped into my mind when I'm annoyed at someone. I find that when I am not actively pursing God and spending quality time in His word and with Him I am easily offended. But -- when I have an open line of communication with Him I am more likely to talk with Him about the current offence, instead of someone that can do nothing to change my heart or fix my problem.
I'm learning that if you refuse to confront the problem -- let it go. Otherwise talk to someone that can fix the problem instead of spreading ugly words about others. God did not save us to harbor bitterness against others, especially other Christians. Every day I'm thankful God shows more grace to me than I show to others. If my grace scale was balanced with how much I showed to others....eek. I hate to think what my life would be like. He is so good to us when we are so undeserving, and I have the right to be nothing but thankful.
||"Not everyone thinks the way you think. Not everyone knows the things you know. Not everyone feels the way you feel, nor acts the way you would act. Remember this and you will go a long way with people."||
