Fighting Frustration
"What causes fighting and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?" James 4:1
I personally run into a lot of situations that frustrate me. I don't understand why someone would do this or why in the world someone would think that. Along with everything that comes from the people around us, such as friends, family, co-workers, etc. (pretty much name any relationship), frustration is bound to arise at some point. More often than not, I don't do the best at keeping my thoughts to myself (my wife would back this up). I believe this verse speaks to this...
Fighting Frustration (Check the source!)
Frustration first becomes an issue when your focus is on the person and not the problem. Your job is NOT to fix people. Once you take your focus off the person, then you can begin to find the source of your frustration.
Now, frustration is not always a bad thing. Frustration can push you to make changes that need to be made and wouldn't otherwise be made. This only happens when the source of your frustration is rooted in truth. Often times though, your frustration is rooted in selfishness. Examples...
- Somehow YOU aren't getting what you want.
- Something isn't going how YOU would like it to.
- Someone treated YOU unfairly.
If I'm being honest with myself, I don't always check the source, and even when I know my frustration is rooted in selfishness, I very easily can reason with myself why it's okay to be frustrated. Why they are wrong, and I am right! I let it eat at me and my frustration just continues to grow.
I end up letting this thing bother me to the point that I distance myself and eventually disconnect from the person and the problem, or I confront them out of selfishness. Neither are the greatest options. So, how do I determine the source of my frustration? I have to ask this...
"Does the outcome of my frustration benefit anyone other then myself?"
If the answer is, "No..." the source of your frustration of is selfishness. But, if the answer is, "Yes!" then that means more then likely the source lies in truth and love. You are caring for the well being of someone other then yourself. This is the answer to the fight of frustration. Love. Love God and love others.
This is where spending time with your Savior each and every day comes in, because otherwise it's nearly impossible to love those who frustrate you without Him (and at the end of the day, it is not up to you and I to determine who deserves Jesus' love). So my question once again is, do you currently have a time like this? A daily time you can take to check the source? If not, I wrote about how to get started with a daily time with Jesus over here... check it out!
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