By: Elizabeth Haarberg

Unload

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

I get irritated. It’s my nasty, yucky default when things aren’t going the way I want or think they should. I know I battle irritation in myself but still fight it occasionally. I’m actually irritated as I write this. I know how to rid myself of the irritation, but I find once I get irritated, it’s like a snowball going downhill, more and more things irritate me.

“It (love) does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;”

I Corinthians 13:5 New Revised Standard Version

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
John 13:34 New International Version

If we are to love one another as God loves us, then we resist the temptation to be irritated. Some days are more intense than others. I notice when I feel hurt by someone, I default to irritation. When I identify that I am irritated, I will pause and observe myself and what happened to cause me to feel that way. Once I am able to gain more awareness of my feelings, I process and use my brain to logically sort through the truth about how I feel.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 English Standard Version

When our minds are transformed to the mind of Christ, we can shift our feelings and thoughts to God’s thoughts which negate irritation or other unwanted feelings.

If you find yourself with feelings that are not desired, identify them, observe what they are attached to, then invite God in to connect your thoughts with Jesus’ thoughts. The more you participate in this process of identifying feelings in you, the better you will get over time at figuring out what is driving those feelings.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado