Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better
By Brant Hansen
4.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
It turns out giving up your “right” to be offended can be one of the most freeing, healthy, simplifying, relaxing, refreshing, stress-relieving, encouraging things you can do.
It’s a radical, provocative idea: We’re not entitled to get offended or stay angry. The idea of our own “righteous anger” is a myth. It is the number one problem in our societies today and, as Dallas Willard says, Christians have not been taught out of it. But what if Christians were the most unoffendable people on the planet?
In Unoffendable you will find concrete, practical ways to live life with less stress, including:
- Adjusting your expectations to fit human nature
- Replacing perpetual anger with refreshing humility and gratitude
- Embracing forgiveness and beginning to love others in unexpected ways
In a humorous and conversational style, Unoffendable seeks to lift religious burdens from our backs and allow us to experience the joy of gratitude, perhaps for the first time, every single day of our lives—flourishing the way God intended.
Brant Hansen
Brant Hansen is a nationally syndicated radio host and podcaster of The Brant and Sherri Oddcast. He works with CURE International, a worldwide network of hospitals that brings life-changing medical care and the good news of God’s love to children with treatable conditions. Brant lives in South Florida with his wife, Carolyn. You can find out more about the amazing work of CURE at cure.org, and you can follow Brant at Brant Hansen Page on Facebook, and @branthansen on Instagram and Twitter.
Read more from Brant Hansen
Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (updated with two new chapters) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Men We Need: God's Purpose for the Manly Man, the Avid Indoorsman, or Any Man Willing to Show Up Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unoffendable Bible Study Guide plus Streaming Video: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Truth about Us: The Very Good News about How Very Bad We Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Even So, Joy: Our Journey Through Heartbreak, Hope, and Triumph Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Unoffendable
39 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best I’ve read. Have recommended it to a few others and they agree as well. It will challenge the way you think. In fact I read it every year to absorb it all over again.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This gave me a clearer perspective on what it means to 'deny myself'.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With a dedication like, "To all those who want grace for themselves but struggle to extend it to others. Wait: that's everybody." I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But with each turn of the page, I enjoyed Brant's storytelling and how he shared what living an unoffendable life looks like and why we should be living that way. I was very introspective and reflective as I read, even going as far as challenging myself t recognize the areas where I was being offended and then flip the script to be unoffended. Now that I've finished, I'm very much a believer that everyone should read this book. I am very excited to reread this book again one day.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better by Brant Hansen is very highly recommended life changing book. Today I am choosing to not be offended.
Hansen, in a very accessible, conversational style full of self-deprecating humor, draws the attention of Christians to a Biblical truth that we may be ignoring. We need to deliberately choose to not be angry, even righteous anger, and not take offense. We need to take a step forward in our faith and walk with God and choose to be unoffendable.
Hansen writes, "Not only can we choose to be unoffendable; we should choose that. We should forfeit our right to be offended. That means forfeiting our right to hold on to anger. When we do this, we’ll be making a sacrifice that’s very pleasing to God. It strikes at our very pride. It forces us not only to think about humility, but to actually be humble."
As humans we actually like to be angry. Anger offers us a sense of moral superiority. The problem is when anger takes up residence in our hearts. We need to do what Dr. Martin Luther King recommended: "recognize injustice, grieve it, and act against it - but without rage, without malice, and without anger." Learning to let things go, not take offense, not make it personal, is the biggest hurdle we face. Often whatever we are scandalized over or upset about doesn't even have anything to do with us; it's someone else's behavior.
If we can manage to not be offended and keep a mindset of gratitude life will go much better for us. "Because that’s the thing about gratitude and anger: They can’t coexist. It’s one or the other. One drains the very life from you. The other fills your life with wonder. Choose wisely." And if you are constantly being offended it might be time to honestly evaluate your inflamed ego. If you can have an attitude of gratitude and humility, you will quite naturally be less easily offended.
Hansen summarizes that, "Choosing to be unoffendable means choosing to be humble. Not only that, the practice teaches humility. Once you’ve decided you can’t control other people; once you’ve reconciled yourself to the fact that the world, and its people, are broken; once you’ve realized your own moral failure before God; once you’ve abandoned the idea that your significance comes from anything other than God, you’re growing in humility, and that’s exactly where God wants us all." "When we surrender our perceived “rights,” when we let go of our attempts to manipulate, we find—surprise!—joy." And wouldn't anyone choose joy over being angry and offended all the time?
This would be an excellent resource for a small group study or any individual who wants to break the easy-to-take-offense cycle that seems so common today. And, although this is firmly a Christian book, the world at large could do with a dose of being unoffendable. This is an eye-opening look at something most Christians know at some level but need to take that knowledge to heart. It's time to be unoffendable and acknowledge that God is in charge.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Thomas Nelson Publishers for review purposes.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First, I love Brant Hansen's humor. I love listening to his talk show on the radio (Christian radio WordFM). His book reads just like he talks. That might take a little getting used to, but you'll be glad to dig deep into this book! Here's why. I wanted to read the book b/c I like Brant's show, not because I thought I had a problem with anger and being offended. Here's the kicker. While reading the book, I realized I DO have a problem! Not so much with anger, but with judging and not accepting people who are different than me. I have a problem loving all people. Wow. This book was fantastic for me, spiritually. It, like The Bible and like other books I've read like "Jesus Prom", teach me to love like Jesus did/does. This book tells me to stop being offended by people (what they do and say) and just love them. Don't condemn them. Don't throw rules at them. Just love them. (And, life becomes sweeter for you too.) You are going to enjoy the stories that Brant shares, his humor, and the message.I have to share this God Sighting. I was 1/4 of the way through the book and I met an artist at a downtown craft show. She and her photography were raw, but beautiful. She captured the ugly, the unwanted, the broken, and discarded things in life...and made them into art. I connected with her and her work. That night I prayed for her. Hard. She may never know the impact she made on me, but it fit perfectly with "Unoffendable". God takes us, broken and sinful, and makes us beautiful and holy. Disclaimer: I got this book free from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest book review.
2 people found this helpful