Want to be?
June 14, 2011 (Tuesday)
Yesterday morning I read an article entitled “The top ten annoying people in the office.” Correction. That was not the title, but it was the best I could come up with when I wanted to share it (it was on the internet) with a member of the family. I never could find it, but I found a myriad of articles and blogs about annoying people. I even found a few about “How to annoy people.”
The more I thought about it, the more the word, “annoy,” clamored for attention. I suppose being annoyed is closely akin to being irritable or hard to get along with. I asked myself, “What do the Scriptures say about this?” So I decided to look it up. Here’s what I found:
“A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult” (Proverbs 12:16 NIV).
Only one verse with the word, “annoy” in it (in its noun form) in the NIV. Well, how many times must it be there before it’s true and stands as a warning to us?
Many other verses in the Bible touch on this subject. For instance, “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt 5:39 NIV). (Admittedly, getting hit is much stronger than being annoyed, but the reaction to it is in line with the advice to overlook insults).
And don’t forget the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). This list leaves no room for allowing ourselves to become annoyed.
Space prevents further discussion here. But the point is that we don’t have to be annoyed if we don’t want to. It’s up to us.
