What irritates you?

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice".                                         Ephesians 4:31   NKJV

What is the one thing that irritates you most? There may be many but, what is the main irritability?

It could be people but, you would have to go and live on the Moon if you wanted to avoid them. It may be bad timekeeping or unreliability that stokes your fire. I can easily fit into the bad timekeeping slot. Being ex-services I have a built in clock that is never early or late but bang on time and, I can easily become agitated when people turn up 15 minutes late for an appointment or whatever. The thing that irritates you the most may be something else but, the thing is we all need to learn to master these things because, they are a root towards anger or bad feeling.

Paul mentions six contenders for irritation in our text above. Let's have a brief look:

Bitterness  This can be marked by resentment towards another person or a bitter feeling or animosity resulting from being mistreated or walked all over. Watch your heart here.

Wrath  This relates to forceful, often vindictive anger. There can be an element of divine vengeance or retribution towards anyone who has hurt one of God's people. Therefore, there can be a human wrath and a spiritual one. They are very different in application.

Anger  A strong feeling of displeasure or hostility. This can be when we are provoked or when things are going wrong and getting on top of us.

Clamour  A loud persistent outcry, as from a large crowd of people. A feeling of outrage, possibly from people protesting about some issue or other.

Evil Speaking  This could be bad language, course jokes, detrimental comments and everything that goes along with this type of thing

Malice  A desire to harm others or see them suffer, especially if they have caused you problems. It's a form of getting your own back. This is not recommended as God fights our battles Romans 12;19

Ask yourself, does any of the above bless the Holy Spirit. I don't think so; in fact v30 says 'And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.' Instead of this, we are to: 'Be kind to one another, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.' v32. What if Jesus hadn't forgiven us when we asked Him? We would be nowhere without Him, that's for sure.

So what can we do to stop being irritated by things. It won't work if you say. 'That's it, I will not fall to irritability from this moment.' You're on a hiding to nothing if you think that will work. However, if you tweak it, incorporating Jesus in the comment, you will be a winner. It won't happen at once; usually it takes practice and a few tests on the subject. But if you are adamant that you will beat this with Jesus' help, you can confidently say: 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' Philippians 4:13. Note the words 'I can' and 'do all things' 'through Christ who strengthens me. This is where you find the ability to overcome things that you no longer need or want in your life. They may keep trying to return but, as you keep on keeping on, you will eventually overcome this area.

A final word on the matter of irritability has to be, What about the people that I irritate? Because we do, probably on a daily basis. We need to look within ourselves and ask Jesus if there are things within that need changing. Why not try saying the following prayer:

'Search me O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; 24 and see if

there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting'  Psalm 139:23-24

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now:

'Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen'

Copyright 2024 Grahame Howard.                                

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