BROADCASTS.com

b'

In this episode, we talk about 4 easy Biblical tips to not be so easily offended

How Toxic are My Thoughts? FREE Quiz
https://krisreece.com/toxic-thoughts-assessment-2/

Building Faith Podcast from Kris Reece Ministries is a podcast to provide biblical solutions to life's tough challenges.

Are you the type to get easily offended? Do you frequently find yourself taken aback by the things that people say and do? \\xa0

I remember going out to eat with friends one time after we finished a long event we were enjoying our food in the conversation and then I looked over at my friend\\u2019s plate. And I saw that she was nearly finished in record time and I remember thinking to myself, wow, she must have been hungry.\\xa0

\\xa0

So I said,\\u201d wow, you must have been hungry,\\u201d\\xa0 and she stuttered a little bit and said, \\u201cyeah\\u201d, and we went back to our dinner conversation and it wasn\\u2019t until we were ready to get the check that I see that she had not finished what little food was left and she packed it up and she took it home.\\xa0

\\xa0

I sensed something was up. So later that evening one of my other friends said to me how hurt was by my comments, I knew what, she was referring to because it was obvious how hr behavior changed after it. But I couldn\\u2019t understand why and worse, why didn\\u2019t you say something to me?\\xa0

\\xa0

Whether you\\u2019re the type that gets offended and says something to the person vents it to another person or tries to keep it to herself, being easily offended can actually affect or even, infect our relationships.

\\xa0

And maybe that\\u2019s why Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:21 says this, \\u201cDo not take to heart all the things that people say lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that the many times you yourself have cursed others.\\u201d\\xa0

\\xa0

Are you easily offended? Do people have to walk on eggshells when they\\u2019re around you?\\xa0

\\xa0

Yes, there are people who are rude and cruel and I\\u2019m not talking about those people who make their snide, passive-aggressive comments, repeatedly, and then say, oh, I was just kidding or you misunderstood me. I\\u2019m talking about the situation where you leave it up to the other person to figure it out and fix it, but you never take the time to figure out if it was truly their issue or yours.\\xa0

\\xa0

Being offended is subjective. That\\u2019s why there\\u2019s no recourse for being offended. What offends me may not offend you and vice versa. If someone said to me, wow, it looks like you were hungry as I quickly polished off my dinner. That wouldn\\u2019t offend me, but it did my friend. So, what\\u2019s actually going on behind the scenes?\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, the truth is, people who easily get offended are often self-righteous. And I know this hurts to hear and it certainly hurt me to hear this years ago, when I thought that it was everyone else\\u2019s job to cater to my feelings and beliefs, otherwise they didn\\u2019t love me. You have free will to believe and prefer whatever you\\u2019d like, but so does someone else. So we have to stop making people wrong in order for you to be right.

\\xa0

\\xa0

Then we go and we kick it up a notch and we presume to know that we know what they were thinking, we know what they were feeling when they said what offended us, the truth is, you don\\u2019t know what someone else is thinking or feeling. You don\\u2019t know what their true motive is and when you have a self-righteous attitude, you automatically make someone else wrong. So you can stand in your self-righteousness.\\xa0

\\xa0

Doing this empowers you to point the blame outward and say, \\u201cyou bad, me good\\u201d. And there are times that people can say something that was hurtful and they truly didn\\u2019t mean to. But there are other times where there are questions that are comments are truly innocent but you\\u2019re hit h