I recently had a talk/text with my daughter about people being easily offended. It seems that everyone “wants” something to be offended about, because then that gives them the “right” to act out. That, of course, got my brain twitching about “what would scripture say about that…”. So, this is what I told her:

Read Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

I remember, growing up, that Grandpa didn’t say much. However, when he did speak, people would stop and listen to what he had to say because they knew that it would be important. Scripture talks quite a bit about wisdom, and one of the things it says a lot, is about limiting our words. I have discovered that there is a lot of freedom in silence…not that our words are not important, but that if the words stay in our head a little bit longer, either we can find a way to say them to the world, that is so offended by everything, or that we can choose not to say it out loud. Nobody can limit what you say inside your head. Once you speak it though, everyone can judge it. Think what you want or need to think and then choose your words carefully. It is a shame that we have to be so careful not to offend people, because the people that claim to not want to be offended really are looking to be offended. Does that make sense? Break it down, say it out loud…I think if you take that a little bite at a time, it will make more sense. God calls us to be patient and kind, not to be offended, but the world doesn’t know what God says because they choose not to. Either they have not been raised in faith, so they legitimately do not know to listen to Him, or for some reason they don’t like what He says, so they just choose not to listen. Either way that creates an environment where we have to choose our words cautiously. There is no harm in being quiet if it keeps you from getting into an argument, or offending someone. You can always talk freely once you come home. All because you cannot use your words in certain places doesn’t make what you have to say “wrong”, but if you know that what you are saying is right, then you don’t necessarily need the support of other people agreeing with you.