Getting offended will separate you. Obviously it will separate you from people. Holding onto hurt turns into offense. Then anger arises and separates more, because it hurts others.
Even deeper, offense steals the word. Check Mark 4 – what causes good seed not to produce? One type of bad ground is offended. So offense allows the Word to be stolen; it turns The Blessing away.
What are you hoping for? healing? success in school? acceptance? Speak the blessing and don’t get offended.
The Truth does not really hurt, but it might pinch– if you are wrong. If you hear something and it “rubs you the wrong way” stop and figure out why. If there is a strange pinch, that might be a correction to your thinking.
People who don’t want that correction, pull away, and start blowing up stories… against the truth. They wall themselves in with their own stories. This puffs up more and more. But it does not help anyone. It just makes more disconnection.
This is what we call offense. Watch out for offense. It is one of the Evil One’s primary strategy.
And if God is sending a truth to you, and you react in offense, then you will have postponed your promotion, increase, and blessing.
Sort out what you hear. If it is new information, listen carefully. Discard if you know it is not true. Check it out if you do not know. Don’t be distracted by offense.