According to Google, the phrase "I'm offended" has increased in usage by more than 5,600% in just the past century. Humans have always taken offense, but never have we been so obsessed with it. Offense stunts our conversations and divides our relationships. It infects our families, politics, entertainment, and churches. Yet few seem to be asking why or what it might be costing us.

If you trace the offense deep enough, you'll find a culture and our individual lives drowning in insecurity. For all our self-help, self-affirming, and self-esteem rhetoric, we can't seem to overcome it. Just beneath our awareness, our insecurities distort our desires, poison our relationships, and leave us increasingly sensitive to offense. But there is a worse consequence.

Offense makes it harder to hear the truth. It can even prevent you from hearing Jesus's good, but sometimes hard, words.

A Sharp Compassion offers readers a closer look at some of Jesus' most challenging words. Through a careful study of the conversations in which Jesus offended, you will discover a savior willing to risk offending you to heal you from your deepest insecurities. Because his love is great, his truths are often hard, and his compassion sharp. But perhaps it's Jesus' hard words we need most right now.