“OH MY GOSH, I’M SO
OFFENDED!”
Three weeks ago my
12-year-old washing machine stopped working. When
I went to buy a new machine, the worker told me they had a new delivery service
and could deliver within two days. But they couldn’t tell me what time the
delivery would happen, so someone had to be home all day. What?! They expected someone to stay home all day
waiting for the washing machine? That was crazy. I was appalled, offended that
they would expect us to put up with such an inconvenience! Added to that, Jane
overheard two ladies in the store complaining about the delivery service, so we
were ready for a hassle, but what could we do?
As it
turned out, our offense was unfounded. The delivery service called us the
evening before, and though we had to wait on the line for about 15 minutes, a
very nice woman answered and gave us a 2-hour window for the delivery. Two very
polite young men showed up right on time, installed the washer, took the old
one and finished the whole process in only 10 minutes! Our offense was totally out
of line! Sorry, Lord!
These days it seems that
we are so easily offended by everything: the
internet is too slow; the traffic is too fast; the radio isn’t playing the
songs we like; the neighbor’s dog is
barking, and so many other things I can’t even begin to name. If we started to
count how many things annoy us or offend us in just one day, we’d probably
shock ourselves.
Offense is bad for the heart. It’s bad for the nerves. It’s just
bad for the universe in general. Matthew 24:10 tells us that when people carry
offense they “shall betray one another and shall hate one another.” Let’s make
a real effort to change the course of offense in our world. It’s become quite a big
problem. But this kind of problem doesn't
get changed by an edict or demand. This kind of problem gets solved by one person, making one decision, one incident at a
time. And you are that person, and I am
that person. We can change our world, by changing the way we respond to it, one
person at a time.
First Corinthians 13 is the
chapter in the Bible on the love of God. Verse 5 tells us the love of God “is
not easily provoked.” God’s love is like a river; when it comes to an obstacle, it just goes up and over or around. It doesn't stop and have a hissy fit, but just keeps flowing. We need
to be more like that, to stay healthy and out of stress.
Jesus said this to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). We need to not get so riled up about everything, but
calmly and prayerfully observe, then
engage in life from a Godly point of view, a God-loving point of view. The Lord
will help us and guide us. I’m not saying it’s
easy; I’m just saying we need to judge each event on its own merit and not jump
to conclusions (especially negative ones) so quickly.
We have a real problem in
America with critically biased news. But
we all are plagued at times with certain
biases in our everyday attitudes and actions. Jane and I were offended by our
perception of what the washing machine delivery would be like. We were biased
by what we heard and swayed to think negatively, and instead it turned out more
than wonderful. We need to be more
careful about letting offense go wild and
ruling our actions, rather than letting the wisdom and peace of God rule.
The disciples of Jesus were
offended because someone who wasn’t part of “their group” was healing people. But
Jesus handled it. John self-righteously
declared, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth
not us: and we forbad him because he
followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which
shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on
our part” Mark 9:38-40). Jesus had a way to so calmly answer the disciples
with the truth and take away the source of their negative bias.
When my experience with the washing machine
delivery turned out so great, I immediately got on the phone to the store where
I bought it. I told the lady in the appliance department the whole story and
that the only glitch was that you had to wait on the phone a little bit before
someone answered. She was thrilled to hear it and asked me to fill out a short survey
so that others would know the truth. I pray that this will help stop the
negative talk in the store and help the delivery company with their business.
We have a challenge, and that is put to us
in Philippians 1:10: “That ye may approve things
that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the
day of Christ.”
Our greatest goal is to love God above
all else and love His Word. That is the only answer
to peace and the removal of offense. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them “(Ps. 119:165). Now that’s an awesome promise and challenge, wouldn’t you
say?!
Love, Carolyn
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