Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Prone to Irritability? | New Testament | Mark 8

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

When do you find yourself becoming irritated? At work? With your kids? Around your spouse? What are the dangers of irritability? How can you stop it? In today's episode, Tanya looks to Jesus's disciples in Mark 8 to discover three lessons about irritability. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mark 8

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. When you get irritated with someone, is it a you problem or a them problem? The irritating little sister that wants to borrow your clothes, the coworker that wants to talk to you every time they see you in the hall, the parent that tries to ask you questions about your day after school, the spouse that doesn't put the kids to bed the same way you would. We've accepted irritation as a way of life. If we are irritated, it's because people are actually quite irritating. If they would change, we wouldn't be irritated.

What about you? When do you get irritated with someone? And how do you treat them when you're irritated? The silent treatment? Keeping your distance? Short answers? Negative body language. Talking about them to others?

Irritation is actually much more of a problem than we think it is. In his book, Loving the Way Jesus Loves, Phil Rikin says, We should take our irritation very seriously because it is the very opposite of love. And it is not merely a way of complaining, therefore, but actually a way of hating. We know this is true because Jesus was around some of the most irritating people in God's great kingdom, and he was not irritable. Today, we're going to look at Mark chapter 8 and let the disciples show us what irritability looks like. First, irritability sets limits on what we will do for others. Listen in, Mark 8. In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat,

he called disciples to come and he said to them, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away. And his disciples answered him, how can one feed these people bread here in this desolate place? The disciples had been with Jesus all day. They had loved on and served these people.

and they had listened to Jesus teaching. But it was late, and they were tired and hungry. If Jesus didn't let the crowd go soon, it would be too late for them to find food on their way home. But had the disciples forgotten who they were serving? Had they forgotten that Jesus was the Messiah who had served manna in the desert? The reality was they set limits. Their trust, belief, and surrender to Jesus was limited to their human capacity to understand.

Another word for this is self-reliance. Self-reliance makes us irritable because we are not the Messiah. We do have limits. We cannot be all and do all for everyone. And so we run out, out of patience, out of energy, out of love. But Jesus is not limited. He does not worry about where the people will find food because he is the bread of life. When we are irritated with people because they pass our limits of acceptance, understanding,

or tolerance, we need more love from Jesus to change our hearts. We need to ask him to forgive us and give us the Holy Spirit to help us love people more like he loves. The next thing we learn from the disciples is how irritability makes us the center of the universe. After they were worried about what the crowd would eat, Jesus took their seven loaves and told the crowd to sit down. Jesus broke the bread, gave thanks to his father, he blessed the people and Mark says all ate and were satisfied, all 4,000 or so of them. Now this is only a short time after Jesus fed the 5,000, and surely the disciples also remembered that. But as the day ended, Mark says Jesus sent the crowd away and immediately got in a boat with his disciples.

Ah, finally, it was time to withdraw and rest with their Lord and Savior. They had all the expectations of what that might look and feel like. Can you relate? Well, listen in to what Marx says happens in the boat next. Verse 14. Now, they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them saying, watch out. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

Now, never mind, the disciples had forgotten to bring breakfast with them in the boat. Jesus wasn't worried about where breakfast would come from. but Jesus was worried about something else, their self-reliance. The heart attitude they shared with the Pharisees and Herod to be the center of their own universe. All allegiance to the kingdom of self instead of to Jesus. Letting irritability reign in our lives is a sure way to keep yourself at the center of your life instead of Jesus.

It keeps you from seeing what you truly need. When was the last time you talked to God about being irritated? Did you ask him to show you what's inside you? Did you ask him to give you the Spirit's power to be less irritable and more open to learn in joy and rest in someone else's company? In Jesus' company? Oftentimes we're like the disciples and more prone to irritability after we've been with Jesus in our quiet time or maybe even in serving him.

We shouldn't be surprised. Of course, the enemy wants to steal our joy and attack our relationships in those moments. But we can talk to God about it and pray for him to help us, specifically when we know we're going to be most vulnerable. Lord, when I walk into the house and see the kids, please give me a spirit of joy and an excitement to be with them. Lord, when I get up from my quiet time, please protect me against self-righteousness

that wants to lash out at my spouse or judge my friends. Okay, lastly, we learn from the disciples how irritability responds to Jesus. When they were still in the boat, Jesus, aware that they were all worried about having no bread, said, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? Iridability has a negative view of Jesus. It minimizes his power. It takes for granted his compassion. It hardens our hearts against the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It puts our eyes on ourselves and closes

our ears to the needs of others. It fails to trust Jesus. The disciples were with Jesus, but they were only partly with Jesus. Irritability had closed them off to fully trusting him and enjoying his presence. This isn't what we want, but this is what we get when we accept irritability instead of confessing it. Jesus is the one we look to for help. He is always full of mercy and compassion. He was not irritated with his disciples, and he is not irritated with us. The only way for us to be more like Jesus is to receive more of Jesus' love. love into our hearts, into our lives. Ask him to set your irritations aside and fill you with his love. Ask for help to love others. Let the sweet love of Jesus be the source of healing for your irritable soul.