“Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Cor. 8:9, NLT).

We used to take offense when someone made fun of someone else’s religion. We used to take offense when someone was criticized as a foreigner. We used to take offense at the intolerance of others.

Now, as Christians, we take offense because others try to force their religion on us. Now we take offense because others try to force cultures on us. Now we take offense because others are intolerant of us.

Don’t we have the right to be offended?

The fact that we can be so easily offended these days stems from our desire to have life our own way, on our own terms. And, if anyone gets in our way, we have the right to silence them or push them aside. It would be a given then, that others would have the same right against us. Right?

Maybe not. As we see in our modern culture, the more rights that people try to exercise, the fewer rights we are left with in order to accommodate all the differences of all the people.

So we must ask, “What rights do I really have? Which rights am I supposed to stand up for and which rights am I supposed to give up?”

Because there are so many people around us, and everyone has their own unique set of beliefs, morals, ethics, and self-imposed rights, we have to take ourselves out of the equation. If we really want to live in harmony with everyone, then we must look to only one set of standards. A set of standards that is not about ourselves, but greater than ourselves. These are the standards set forth by God, brought alive in Christ, and lived out through the Holy Spirit.

See, only God has the right to be absolute, to be all truth. If we ascribe to His greater rights by becoming the people, the person, that He wants us to be, only then will we be able to set aside our right to be offended in order to honor God and get on with the business of being with others in the manner that Christ taught us.

This Thanksgiving, let us remember to lay down our right to be offended in order to become who God made us to be. And let us also remember that the only true right we have is to be grateful that Jesus is our Savior! Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

David McCall

Executive Pastor