Are You Annoyed or Annoying?
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. – Acts 16:17-18 NKJV.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal (annoying distraction – AMP) – 1 Corinthians 13:1 NKJV.
Dictionary dot com defines annoy as: to disturb or bother (a person) in a way that displeases, troubles, or slightly irritates. Some things are annoying like a train parked on the tracks blocking an intersection in Inola, Oklahoma for weeks along with the constant noise of a crossing signal. Now that is annoying! What annoys you? Buzzing insects? Fingernails scratching on a blackboard? Other people’s children screaming? Waiting half an hour in a checkout line? There are a lot of things that annoy us.
Do you annoy other people? There is an article on Psychologium that gives seven signs that your personality is annoying for people around you:
- Your friends and family constantly tell you to cheer up and to look at the bright side of things.
- Your co-workers tell you that you are very patronizing.
- You are always the one everyone comes to for the latest gossip.
- You are always late and unreliable.
- You are always competing.
- You are selfish and temperamental.
- You are plain rude.
So are you annoyed or annoying? One of the problems that annoying people have is that they do not really have the love of God in their hearts. That is what we are being told in 1 Corinthians 13. Without love we are like clanging cymbals, just annoying distractions. Without love to temper our words and actions we will be very hurtful to those around us, because we will not care whether we hurt them or not. Without love we only care about ourselves, and what makes us feel good and look good.
What can you do if someone or something is annoying you? There are likely several things that you could do, but the apostle Paul gives us an example as he commanded the demon to come out of the servant girl in the Name of Jesus. Now, in these days to do that verbally likely would result in a violent response. You can, however, always pray in the Name of Jesus about whatever is annoying you. But what if you think that you are an annoying person? Only by receiving Jesus as your Savior and following Him can you have the love of God in your heart. Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Are you following Him?