Thursday, August 3, 2006
"Love is not provoked" (1 Corinthians 13:5).
IDEA: Irritability is not only a sin against love, but it can destroy love.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that their irritability can have consequences.
Do you ever feel that some of the things the Bible says are picky-picky-picky?
With so many big problems in the world, don’t you feel that when Paul says that love is not provoked, or it’s not irritable, that he’s really talking about bad manners and not about bad morals?
What’s wrong with irritability?
I. In a family, where there is supposed to be love, and a husband or wife yields to irritability, it affects everyone, right down to the cat or dog.
How do you deal with someone who is irritable?
People put distance between themselves and the irritable person. We don’t want to be around someone who is irritable and may give vent to angry outbursts.
How do you respond when someone gets irritable and angry?
It often incites irritability on the part of others.
Irritability really creates problems in people who are passive-aggressive.
What do you mean by passive-aggressive?
A wife can take out her irritation with her husband by shooting the budget on something unnecessary.
A husband may take out his exasperation by staying away from home when he has promised to be there for a family outing.
Irritable people often communicate by blaming the other person. Why do they do that?
Blaming someone else is a way of excusing ourselves from responsibility for the problem. It’s a way of side-stepping the “bad-guy” label.
II. If love is not irritable, then how do we handle irritability?
Irritability seldom accomplishes anything positive. It usually makes a bad matter worse.
“The beginning of strife is like releasing water; therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts” (Proverbs 17:14). It’s easier to avoid strife than to contain it once it begins.
Ask God before you respond irritably to help you love the other person.
Instead of speaking out of your negative emotion, if God has calmed your heart, then speak a soft word. “A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). It takes two to be in strife. But love refuses to be drawn into irritability or exasperation with a partner.