As I reflect on my observations of the church world over the past several years, it seems to me that Christians are some of the most offended people in the world. We seem to be hurt at every turn. We are hurt because someone didn't acknowledge us. We are hurt because someone disagreed with us. We are hurt because someone dared mention the truth about us or our circumstances. We are hurt when someone dares to follow Christ regardless of the cost. Church splits happen because of hurt, people refuse to communicate with others in a civil manner because of hurt. And the one that amuses me most - people angrily deny that they are hurt!
Quite frankly, our propensity toward being hurt is a sign of our immaturity. When one enters the kingdom of God, we give up the right to be hurt and offended. That does not mean that people won't inflict pain upon us. That does not mean that we won't feel hurt by the actions of others. However, we give up the right to allow the hurt to dictate our actions. When our hurt dictates our actions toward others, it reveals that we have not really entered the kingdom of God. Instead the self-god is alive and well, demanding retribution and attention.
I am convinced that God will send people to offend us so that we might learn to die to self. I experienced a time in my life when it seemed as if everyone opposed me. There were a lot of untruthful accusations leveled against me. For a person whose default self-nature is defensiveness, those accusations crushed me. Everything within me demanded exoneration. To make matters worse, I sensed the voice of God in my spirit telling me that I could not defend myself; He would be my defender. That season of pain became a portal for a deeper understanding of the kingdom of God. And yes - God did vindicate me in his time!
If we are going to arrive at a place of maturity, we must first come to the place of relinquishing the right to be hurt
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