Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better

by Brant Hansen

Isaiah...

tram...

Lamentations.

“engulfed”

“slaugh...

chapter 3 (...

get rid of anger (Eph. 4:31; Col.

3:8),

When talking about this with people, this idea that the Bible doesn’t ever endorse human anger as a solution for injustice, I get this reaction, particularly from men: “But we’ve got to do something!” Yes, agreed: Do something. Take action. “But if we don’t get angry, we won’t do anything.” Really? Why? So you can’t just do the right thing, because it’s the right thing?

1 Corinthians,

(13:1).

1 Corinthians,

“Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor . . . but have not love, it profits me nothing” (13:3 NKJV).

Colossians 3:8.)

Ephesians 4:31,

31,

For those who ask, “But how can we fight injustice without anger?” King’s response is simple: Be motivated by love. Love for victims, love for bystanders, and even love for our enemies themselves.

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD! (Ps. 27:14 NKJV)

For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. (Ps. 37:9 NKJV)

Wait on the LORD, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. (Ps. 37:34 NKJV)

Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; wait for the LORD, and He will save you. (Prov. 20:22 NKJV)

Worry and anger often go hand in hand. They’re both about feeling threatened, and they both represent, ultimately, a lack of trust.

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. (Ps. 37:7–8 NKJV)

Choosing to be unoffendable, or relinquishing my right to anger, does not mean accepting injustice. It means actively seeking justice, and loving mercy, while walking humbly with God. And that means remembering I’m not Him.

Robert Sapolsky

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers,

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt. 6:25–26 NKJV)

“You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it” (Matt. 6:27 NCV).

“least of these” (Matt. 25:40 NKJV),

Mark 9,

When [the demon] saw [Jesus], immediately the spirit convulsed [the boy], and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So [Jesus] asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (vv. 20–24 NKJV)

Khaled Hosseini’s

And the Mountains Echoed,

Laurence Bergreen’s

Over the Edge of the World,

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35 NKJV; emphasis added).

What is terribly remarkable is when someone is willing to love a person, in the name of Jesus, whom he or she would otherwise despise. It makes no sense otherwise. Why would we ever regard someone as family who would otherwise be an enemy? Why ignore his faults, or cover her wrongs with love?

Sherri’s very refusal, and our very refusal, to take and hold offense is evidence of the existence of God. This is how they’ll know we belong to Him, Jesus says.

“God is love,”

“Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 John 4:8; 1 Peter 4:8 NLT),

D. A. Carson

Love in Hard Places:

“acquainted with grief,”

(Isa. 53:3 ESV).

Choosing to be unoffendable out of love for others is ministry. And real ministry forces us to abandon our relentless search for approval from others.

So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith. The people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed, because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did instead of trusting in God to make them right. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble. (Rom. 9:30–32 NCV)

“justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5).

Tony Campolo

The Kingdom of God Is a Party.

Harry said she could. Then she said, “I want to take the cake home, okay? I’ll be right back, honest!” She left. Everyone was stunned silent. Tony said he didn’t know what else to do, so he broke the silence with, “What do you say we pray?” Looking back on it now, it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But then it just felt like the right thing to do. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed and that God would be good to her. When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”