ANNOYED: Goodbook 04-19-12

Goodbook messages arrive every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 16:16-18 (Advanced Track: 2 Sam 19-21; Ps 5, Ps 38, Ps 41‐42)

¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

Application:

I have a lot of respect for the Apostle Paul, but I don’t think this was his finest moment of ministry.  A woman approached him on his way to the place of prayer.  The woman was not in the best place herself.  She was battling demons.  She was enslaved.  She was being taken advantage of for money.  The woman followed Paul and his company shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”  She was absolutely right and had a wonderful thing to say.  But it must have been HOW she was saying it that got to Paul.  I imagine she was not saying it nicely.  Maybe it had a tone of mockery or disdain.

Paul got annoyed.  I understand how he would have gotten annoyed, but if he had stopped to consider what this woman was going through, he might have viewed her very differently.  She was not an annoyance.  She was a beloved child of God.  She was not an annoyance.  She was a person who needed God.  She was not an annoyance.  She was an opportunity for ministry.

I remember having a conversation during my internship that helped me view people differently.  I was venting about how it was hard for me to get any “ministry” done because people kept interrupting and distracting me.  I would get a call, or someone would knock on my door, etc.  I’ll never forget what my internship supervisor said.  He very wisely told me: “Sometime the interruptions ARE the ministry.”

We might get annoyed when people interrupt us or distract us or act out against us.  But rather than get annoyed, we could view these people and these moments as opportunities to minister with God’s love and grace.  Sometimes God brings people our way who need a word of grace or a helping hand.  We can be the hands and the feet and the mouthpiece of God for these people.  That is a pretty cool opportunity.

Are you annoyed with anyone right now?  Are you annoyed by people who interrupt you or distract you?  Maybe God is calling us to see that these people are beloved children of God and these moments are opportunities for ministry.

1) The next time you get annoyed with someone, consider the ministry opportunity.

Share your thoughts, questions, and ideas about how to apply this…