This talk is one that everyone with ears to hear should take time to ponder and reflect upon. What power this Apostle of the Lord has and the convictions he speaks with makes his words come alive.
When reading this talk there was so much that hit me, made me reevaluate my thinking, and also the things we talked about in class. I loved when we began talking about “taking” offense, rather then being offended. Being offended is something of a choice we make as “beings.” We have that ability to choose whether or not we want to take the things that people say and apply them to our lives as something of value. The point was brought up in class that we must physically take that offensive statement and apply it to ourselves. We must go outside of our comfortable zone, and grasp that form of offensive-ness and make it our own. It isn’t something that can be given or thrown upon you. This is so true. Elder Bednar states that, “…believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else. “ When he states that it is fundamentally false, it shows us that this is something that we make ourselves to believe. As the natural man we think that we really have more ability to be acted upon rather than to act in appositive manner. And acting in a positive manner is what our Heavenly Father wants from us. He hopes that we will choose to use our agency in such a light that would be worth Him giving that gift to us. We need to make our choices fit in line with the love we should have for our fellow men (and women!) so that in turn we show our real love for our Heavenly Father.
I am sitting in the library writing this, and behind me a couple is reading a scripture out loud that hit me hard when it comes to this topic. Matthew 25:40 reads, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have adone it unto one of the bleast of these my cbrethren, ye have done it unto me.” As I have been pondering this I have thought about the people that try, specifically to offend us. This verse should be applied to them. When we seek to offend others we are in turn offending our God and when we decide to not forgive them, we too are choosing to not forgive our God. Taking offense is something that we should shun from our lives. We should leave it in the dust that we turn to our Heavenly Father.
The final thing that I found to be interesting in this talk is when he says that when we choose to feel a certain way about something we deny ourselves blessings, friendships and all other things that could have been a blessing to us had we chosen not to be offended. I think that in life we miss out on so much because of the negative choices we make. When we choose to use our agency negatively we shun the gospel. We cast out the things in our lives that could be vital and important, blessings that our Heavenly Father wants to bestow upon us. We choose the paths we walk, Heavenly Father only tries to light the path, it is up to us to really take to heart His words and trust your heart, every step of the way.