got irritation?

do you ever find yourself irritated and easily angered?

truth is that we all do for various reasons: kids, wife, job, family, friends, bills, drivers, weather, money, wrong sandwich in the drive-thru. life is full of irritations and things that can light our fire.

God's Word says in 1 Corinthians 13 that God's love enables us to be slow to anger and to become less irritable.

"love is not.....irritable (easily angered in the NIV)" 1 cor. 13:5

when i think about it, im typically irritated by the things that get in the way of what i want to do. if im driving, i want everyone to get out of my way. if im at home, i want the kids to be quiet so i can watch tv. to be honest, irritability and anger emerge from our selfishness, our own ambitions.

there's a powerful prayer that Paul the Apostle prays in Ephesians 3. he prays that God would help him become "rooted and grounded in love" (vs. 17). he then asks to know God's love so that he could understand how much God loves not only him, but all the saints, all of his brothers and sisters in Christ. (vs. 18)

isnt it time to release our selfishness to God, and gain a broad view of God's love; not to just know how much He loves and cares for us, but how much He loves and cares for those around us; for others.

Corinthians says this type of love will stop irritability and anger in its tracks.

we must be aware of the fact that our ambitions, agendas, and needs arent the only ones that matter. God's love will make us mindful of the needs and agendas of the people around us as well.

i encourage you to pray for what paul did in Ephesians 3; that God's love would grow in us. knowing His love leads to the fullness of God. (vs. 19)

how He loves....