Recently I was on Twitter and it happened to be my birthday; something I am not usually quick to mention unless it is relevant. But word got around quickly after one or two of my friends who knew tweeted birthday wishes to me.
I retweeted the first few tweets sent to me and quickly realized that I was retweeting a lot of birthday wishes on my timeline.
Which meant to me that I may be [gasp]… “that annoying person on Twitter”.
I’m generally not annoyed much when others retweet compliments or shoutouts, but I know some people who do get annoyed.
I thought I was being nice by retweeting the tweets sent to me. I wanted to let them know I appreciated them.
But after a few tweets I stopped retweeting (unless it was a picture or personalized message) and instead would send this:
"I was retweeting birthday wishes, but now I don’t want to be annoying with it. Much love to you!"
See, my fear of being annoying told me to stop what I was doing. And my fear of not treating everyone equally told me to send that message.
We all know “that person” who we don’t want to be like.
That guy who cuts you off in the parking lot. That lady who wears so much perfume you could swear she killed a fairy and stole her whole enchanted fragrance supply. That neighbor who sets his sprinklers to the exact time you walk out of your house in the morning. Ensuring you receive a significant dousing of water.
These are the people you swear you will NEVER become. Because God forbid you should ever do anything that annoys another person. That would spell the end of your testimony for Christ, your social status, and most importantly your precious ego. You might as well just bury yourself and leave others in peace.
In faith it’s often the same. Let’s say you don’t want to be that person who over-spiritualizes everything. The person who sees signs from God in powdered donuts and news reports; and makes long prayer speeches out of meal blessings.
So you stay away from prayer groups, and believe that God would NEVER speak to you in any way that is even remotely odd.
Or maybe you have a fear of being the overly casual Christian; who lets their sin show a little more than most. Not always making appropriate remarks and continually revealing why they need grace. Letting anger get the best of them, they sometimes take it out on others.
So you hide all your flaws, watch your words, and keep a lid on that temper; internalizing rather than externalizing.
And so you avoid being “that person”. Sometimes we get glimpses of us acting in a way that reminds us of “that person”. Gripped with fear, we destroy all evidence of the incident, and swear to ourselves that we will "NEVER become “that person!!”
But what if our annoyances (even if justified) are keeping us from experiencing freedom in Christ? Could it be that our ego is making us think this way more than even our zeal for righteousness?
For instance, what if you went to that prayer group? Sure, it may be uncomfortable at times, but what if you’re missing a chance to get out of your comfort zone for Christ?
And what if you opened up about some of your flaws? What if you found some close friends who you could be yourself around. Who you didn’t have to worry about putting up a “wall of self-righteousness” for?
Truth is, there are worse things in life than being annoying. Like being complacent in faith. And what we think annoys others might not annoy them at all. In fact, there are more than likely things you do that already annoy others.
You can’t protect yourself from all criticism. No one can win the approval of everyone. And yes, that means you will be annoying to some.
"Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." -Galatians 1:10
We must reach a place where we don’t apologize for being flawed. We should apologize when our flaws hurt relationships (with God or others). But people have to learn to accept us, because God accepts us.
The apostle Paul said:
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect…" -1 Corinthians 15:10
So go out today and live for Christ! And be assured, you will more than likely annoy someone in the process.