Breaking the Cycle: From Offended to Unoffendable

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Remember that growing up?How awesome would it be if that statement were true? Oftentimes it is far easier to heal a broken bone than it is to heal the wound caused by something someone said that deeply offended us. One of the top killers of our happiness is an offense. One offense has the ability to ruin your whole day, week, month, year, or even life.Look, regardless of our age, wealth, career, relationship status, or spiritual maturity, no one is exempt from offenses. But what if we could be unoffendable? Well, one of the first steps to being unoffendable is realizing that we, ourselves, have a large capacity to do a lot of offending. It’s an underrated defense mechanism.Most of us seldom criticize others out loud, but privately, merely diminishing someone else’s success makes us feel better about our own shortcomings. It’s as though another person’s things, careers, and relationships are in direct competition with our things, our careers, and our relationships. But as long as we see our friends and their lives as secret competition, we will always incidentally offend other people because we find it so hard to just be happy for them. It’s amazing that people can spend an hour on social media and internally criticize what everyone else is posting. Remember this: You will reap what you sow. Life is not about what you receive. Life is all about what you give. We’ve talked about seeing good fruit over the last two years a lot!Maybe we to be known as a cheerleader for our family, friends, and the people we love the most. The life of a fan is so much more enjoyable than the life of a hater. When we begin intentionally celebrating other people, we actually found ourselves becoming less offended and less offending.Genuine celebration of another person’s success disarms the trap of comparison.“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”Galatians 6:7-9 Be nice, Grace Wins