Easily Irritated?

There are many things about the Christmas season which may irritate us: endless TV adverts for the latest toys or phones, looped Christmas music in the shops, decorations and lights that have somehow tangled themselves into impossible puzzles… On one level, the reasons for our irritation are clear, but when we look deeper, we see there is a fundamental irritation with God.

In today’s chapter, Sinclair spends some time exploring our response to Jesus’ parables. This style of teaching is meant to get under our skin, to expose how our sin creates an irritation with God and his ways. Focusing on the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:10-14), he explains that we may feel irritated by this story, since we are more like the Pharisee than we realise, but the tax collector is the one who goes home justified!

Sinclair writes, “But what is the point of this diversion into understanding the parables? Simply this: only when this fundamental irritation is brought to the surface and dealt with by God’s grace will we begin to experience and express the love that ‘is not irritable’.”

We need to understand that no matter what we blame for our irritation—other people, our genes, our circumstances, our life experiences—we are really blaming God, since none of those things operate outside of his sovereign control. Only when we have accepted this and submitted ourselves wholly to his will, knowing that his ultimate purpose is to make us more like Christ, will we be able to resist responding negatively to the irritations of life. We will rest peacefully in God, knowing and trusting his love for us.

Jesus’ life was marked by irritations of all kinds, from fickle disciples to plotting religious leaders. Yet he never spoke one irritable word nor reacted with frustration to anyone; he humbly bowed to his Father’s will in all circumstances. Why? Because he could trust his Father’s perfect purpose.

Today, reflect on what sorts of things irritate you. Can you identify the irritation with God at their root? How have you been challenged by today’s reading? Pray for a heart that rests in God’s good purposes for your life.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.