Our world can be pretty harsh. We can hide behind a social media account, text, or email and say some things to one another that we might not say in person. Or, maybe people have said these things to your face. After all, we’re all broken people and some really broken and messed up words get passed back and forth between us at times. Do we have the right to be angry at those things?

Maybe you’re a Christian – solid in your faith and sure of you identity – who has been taught to be angry about the “right” things. Maybe you’ve been given permission to “hate what God hates” and “fight for what’s right.” In his first published book, “Unoffendable,” Brant Hansen proposes a fairly radical idea to contrast the idea of “righteous indignation (a fancy phrase in Christian culture meaning to be mad about injustices).”

Hansen poses the question: What would life be like if we choose to stop being offended?

I had to think about this. After all, I’d been raised to stand up for what’s right and speak against wrongs. What I came to understand by the end of Hansen’s “Unoffendable” was that God doesn’t need me to stand up for Him. He’s God! Being unoffendable doesn’t mean being a doormat or condoning abuse (in any form). It doesn’t mean giving sin or evil a thumbs up to continue. No, being unoffendable means I lay down my pride, my ego, my right to be angry, all for the sake of peace and unity – for the sake of the Kingdom.

Hansen recounts story after story for the reader where he made the choice to be offended. He contrasts his outcomes with that of humble, loving people who chose the opposite reaction. Those who were unoffendable changed more lives, healed more hearts, and loved more like Jesus. What if this (very unnatural reaction) is the better path? What if I stopped avoiding social outcasts, non-believers, and people I find “weird” or disagree with?

There’s no greater example of this than the founder of the Christian faith, Jesus. He has the right to be angry with those who betrayed Him, spit on Him, beat Him, and crucified Him. But instead He asked God to forgive them. He hung next to a real criminal and rather than attacking the man’s life of wrongdoing, He said that the man would join Him that day in paradise. Jesus was the model of an unoffended life and look at the lives He changed.

Hansen challenges us to live unoffendable in the biggest of ways and the smallest. Living an unoffended life actually begins for me at home – in my marriage. My emotions and pride can get the best of me and cause me to take offense to things my husband does. Maybe he used the wrong tone with me after he got home from work? Maybe he didn’t compliment the meal I made him for dinner? Maybe he’s not rushing to tend to the kids like I think he should?

Choosing to be offended by these things communicates a lack of understanding, patience, and Christ-like love to my mate. And that is never helpful. Instead, when I choose to be unoffendable, I choose to see the good in my husband (and other people). This brings more peace, more love, and more unity to my marriage (and the world).

A quick read (I knocked it out in 3 nights), you’ll enjoy Hansen’s quirky, conversational style. Do you dare lay down your right to anger? If you’re brave enough, dive into “Unoffendable.”

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