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Article by
Scotty Smith
“The more I remember God’s lavish love for us in Jesus, the more I forget to
be irritated with others.”
In any given day, hour, or moment, our thought-life greatly determines our
heart-response (which flows out in our words and behavior). Being a broken
person in a broken world among broken people, provocation is inevitable.
What isn’t inevitable is a godly response. Thus, “fools show their annoyance
at once” (Proverbs 12:16 NIV) and are “quick in (their) spirit to become
angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).
Anger lodges in the heart of fools — the Holy Spirit used that phrase recently
to convict me about the way I’d been rolling out the welcome mat, providing
hospitality, a warm bed, and nourishment for thoughts that always prove to
be horrible houseguests.
The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to
destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised
against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ
(2 Corinthians 10:4–5)
Indeed, to work for one another’s joy (2 Corinthians 1:24) is to wage war for
each other’s thinking and feeling.
Here’s how I’ve learned to apply this text to the daily issue of my attitude,
specifically to irritation, and its ugly siblings (aggravation, grumpiness, self-
pity, resentment, and more). Notice three elements in this passage:
strongholds to be named, opinions to be destroyed, and thoughts to be
captured.
“The more we are remembering Jesus, our repentances won’t be fewer, but
quicker and more joyful.”
What kinds of things have irritated me? What moved my wife of 46 years to
ask me the same question Paul asked the Galatians, “What has happened to
all of your joy?” (Galatians 4:15 NIRV). It’s not a very noble list, so here’s to
transparency and vulnerability.
• Loud talkers in a quiet restaurant, and slow waiters fishing for a big tip;
What might your list of idolatrous provocations look like? It helps to name
them.
This isn’t “mind over matter,” but Jesus over all things — Creator and
Sustainer, Lamb of God, Lord of lords, Lamp of the city. It’s not “the power
of positive thinking,” but the joy of focused gazing — seeing and savoring
more of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. It’s not denial of pain, but
delight in the Lord; not the absence of storms, but the presence of Jesus in
those storms. It isn’t stoic resolution, but grateful adoration. Indeed, the
gospel doesn’t make us less human or superhuman, but fully human.
Our ultimate goal is not being less irritated, but more like Jesus. It isn’t the
promise to do better, but the commitment to repent quicker. The more we are
remembering Jesus, our repentances won’t be fewer, but quicker, and more
joyful.
What do you need to remember about Jesus when you are tempted to
irritation? Once again, it helps to name those truths.
If you, like me, struggle with sinful irritation, name the strongholds, destroy
the idolatrous opinions, and recapture any wandering thoughts for Christ. Ask
God to remind you of what you need to forget, and then ask him to show you
all you need to remember.