If you can’t be corrected without being offended, you will never grow in life.
What a true statement that doesn’t seem to be very popular right now. One doesn’t have to look very far to find someone offended by something.
What’s the opposite of being offended? In my opinion, having a teachable spirit.
I work five jobs. Three of those jobs I began during the pandemic. They were jobs I had the skills to carry out, things I did for others even, yet I still needed to learn how to do them in ways that pleased the boss I was working for. Not my last boss. Not a possible future boss. The boss I am blessed to have now.
Having a teachable heart helps me keep the right perspective. It’s wanting to do the best job for the person I’m working for currently. It’s wanting (and being willing) to learn a different way to do things, maybe a better way than I previously did something, for the betterment of my employer and most importantly, for God.
There are so many ways we can get offended. Our jobs, our relationships, our political or medical or biblical views. Being offended is as easy as breathing.
I don’t want to live offended. Angry. Building walls inside my spirit. Cultivating unforgiveness. All those characteristics hurt me, not the person I’m holding the offense against.
I want to grow as a person to reflect Jesus more and more. I want to choose “teachable.” I want to be someone who lives unoffendable.
While it’s unrealistic to think I’ll always get it right, that’s where grace comes in. That’s when humility to go to the person you offended and apologize has a role.
Only Jesus lived unoffended perfectly. But we can choose daily to have a heart that desires to be teachable, to be unoffendable, to grow.
What’s your choice?
© Cheri Swalwell 2021