Day 171 - Going Deaf

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"When circumstances made those expectations seem unattainable, I became so offended that I couldn’t see or hear any voice of reason, including God’s."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 187.

Want to lose your hearing in a quick way? Just get offended. That's right. The fastest way to shut out the sounds of those around you is to become offended at those people.

Offense has the amazing ability to make us go deaf. Of course, I'm not talking about actual hearing loss. I'm making the point that offense makes it so that we simply choose to not listen to those around us, particularly if the voices we choose to no longer hear have anything to do with the situation that caused us offense in the first place.

That's the reason for so many of the ravages being caused in our Victim Based Society today. The fact that everyone is so offended by everyone else has made it impossible for one group to have meaningful dialog with another. We have become deaf to those who might have an opinion that is different than ours. Why? Because that differing opinion falls on deaf ears when what we need to talk about has anything to do with issues that might have been deemed as offensive in one way or another.

Use to be that we could talk to one another no matter what the situation. At least that is how it use to feel. Today things have changes. There are certain words and phrases that one group can say about themselves that, if said by another group, is something that is near on to a federal offense. Free speech is now deemed as hate speech if that speech is seen as offensive on one way or another. We are quick to label people who don't completely agree with us in terms that a quarter of a century ago was reserved for only the most vile of offenders in society.

I believe that all the craziness that stems from our Victim Based Society comes from the fact that we are so easily offended today. Why is it that way? I believe that offense is nothing more than a symptom of a serious identity crisis.

Yes, identity is the reason it is so easy to be offended and identity is the reason our society has sunk into the depths of victim thinking. The fact that we really don't know who we are has made it so easy for us to gravitate to this group or that to try define and validate who we think we are. We have elevated race, sexual orientation, gender, and a whole host of other people groups to a status where we grasp for who we are by the people we identify ourselves with.

Our Victim Based Society looks like a bunch of distinct, isolated and closed clusters of like minded folks. One group pits itself against the other in offense based ways that make it near impossible for us all to just get along. The result of all this grouping is offense at every turn. When we are offended we close our ears, sometimes our eyes and almost always our hearts to our fellow man.

I came across this Bible verse that really paints an accurate picture of what happens when we become offended. Check it out with me now.

Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
    Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
    so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
    so they won’t have to look,
    so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
    and let me heal them. Matthew 13:15 (MSG)

Matthew was quoting what God said about the nation Israel through the prophet Isaiah. These words were penned thousands of years ago about a people that had become offended. Who offended them? By their own accounts, God was the offender.

Their offense made them walk around with their fingers in their ears and their eyes screwed shut. The last thing they wanted to do was to see and/or hear from their offender lest they might see or hear something that points to their own responsibility in what caused the offense in the first place.

That's why we become deaf when we are offended. We don't want to consider the possibility that we may actually have some fault in the situation. Hear me loud and clear at this point. I'm in no way talking about the vile things one person can do to cause offense to another. Abuse by one person is in no way happening because the offended has some fault they need to deal with. The kinds of offense I'm talking about has to do with differences in opinion, differences in belief and differences in direction that has our Victim Based Society in such a divisive mess.

It is so much easier to just blame the offending group rather than find common ground that might make the offended group come to some level of compromise. It is more appealing to just remain offended rather than work out a solution that makes unity more of a possibility. The deafness that results when offense is at hand comes as a result of the fact that we just can't stand the possibility that the temporary things we allow to be the foundations of our identity might not be all they need to be to make who we are a guarantee in this world.

Until we come up with a foundation for identity that can't be challenged by the things of this world, offense will continue to isolate us in ever increasing victim thinking ways. For me, the only basis for identity that just can't be rocked by world events is that of Child of God. The fact that I am loved so that I have been adopted into a Kingdom that will last forever is something that the things this world offers up just can't compete with. It is when I am relying on worldly proofs as to who I am that the words of those who disagree with me can be such an offensive prospect in my life. When I give in to that kind of offense I immediately become deaf to those who offended me and to God Himself.

Today, God is speaking to you. Can you hear Him? He is saying that you are His Child. He is yelling at the top of His lungs that you are a victor no matter how much or how little victory is in your life. Maybe it is time to take your fingers out of your ears and listen to what He is saying. That's the only way I know we will be able to live out this life as the victor He has called us to be.