When I was a kid, it wasn’t cool to be offended. My friends and I didn’t call it being offended, but that’s what was happening. In our small world of childhood, if your feelings were hurt and you couldn’t accept an apology, you were the one who slunked away. You went back home and told your mom and tried to make her your ally, but she would just say, “Stop being silly, and go out and play.”

I guess we don’t need moms now, if we have God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Still, it is hard for most of us to surrender what we consider our sacred right to be offended. Maybe, it would help us all to remember that we actually have no such right.

In fact, our sacred right, if we’re going to phrase it that way, is actually to overlook any and every offense.

When we take offense, we’re working against ourselves. We’re working against the Lord and His will for us. Christ has given us His life, His peace, His joy, His love—everything we have need of to live a life that blesses us and glorifies Him. What more could we want?

We have this amazing treasure, the life God has designed for us to live and thrive in, but instead of protecting it, we put it at risk over one, dumb offense.

We need to protect that precious treasure we have been given by God, that good life He desires for us to live. When offenses come, and they will come, we should say to the Deceiver, “You can’t touch this! I won’t let that offense destroy God’s will for my life.”

A wise man restrains his anger and overlooks insults. This is to his credit. Proverbs 19:11 (TPB)

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