Why Christians Are Sometimes Annoying

For the same reason that atheists are, we talk about God too much. For some cockamamie reason, I don’t have a “Housewife Theologian” Facebook page. I know it’s not the smartest (non)move, but it fits in the same category for why I never joined a sorority—I don’t feel the need to ask people to like me. But I do share a link to my recent articles on my personal page. I have plenty of friends who aren’t Christians, as well as those who just don’t care to see yet another post talking about God every other day. Since I care too much about what other people think, I worry that I am annoying my Facebook “friendies” by dropping yet another post about God in their news feed. Some Christians really are annoying about it. Every other word out of their mouth is “the good Lord” this and “God bless” that. After a couple of minutes you realize that they may have a colorful God veneer, but all that’s underneath is particle board. That’s a real shame. And yet, we really should be obsessed with God. The preacher to the Hebrews says so. The first chapter division introduces the sermon with the supremacy of Christ. In just the first three verses we learn that he is the ultimate prophet, heir of all things, and the radiance of God’s glory. To take it up a notch, the sermon continues to explain that Christ isn’t only better than the prophets, but he is also better than the angels. If angels delivered a message to us, we would think it to be pretty important. What does our final messenger indicate about the value of the message? So we see the preacher urging the listener in Hebrews 2:1, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” I don’t think our English translation delivers the punch that this warning section is delivering. The New King James version gives us a bit of a stronger exhortation, saying we “must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard.” Looking up “earnest” in my Strongs Concordance I find words like, “more superabundantly,” and “exceedingly.” And for “heed” I find, “to hold to the mind,” and “apply oneself.” The preacher is pressing the reader with an argument from the lesser to the greater. While they payed such close attention to the message delivered by the angels to Moses, how much more should they cling to the Word spoken by the Son in these last days! And as we hear this Word today, we also should hold tight to this message. The warning is that if we don’t, we will not persevere. In fact, just about every imperative to persevere in Hebrews is similar. The preacher tells us over and over to hold fast to the confession of our hope. So we do need to be a little crazy about the truth. And it can really be annoying to those who do not recognize the message that delivers Christ. Interestingly, those that flat-out deny the truth also become preoccupied with it. Professing atheists can get annoying with their obsession that there is not God. If there is no God, why are they obsessed with our confessions? Why do they talk about God so much? I guess they are trying not to fall away from their disbelief. But what about all those “lukewarm” Christians who don’t want to over-think things? They’re like Spongebob and Patrick when they discovered a humongous pearl. They knew it was special and beautiful, so they carried it around with them. I think they ended up playing a mean game of volleyball with it. But since they weren’t knowledgeable about the pearl, they couldn’t really appreciate its value. Lukewarm Christians are in danger of falling away. And so are the ones who annoy us with the dazzling God talk that overlays the particle board. We aren’t to be obsessed with the word, “God,” or even with making sure others know we are Christians. We are to be fixated with the message of salvation that we have heard. This means that we need to sit ourselves under the preached Word and partake in the sacraments that God has given as a means to confer Christ’s blessing to us. This message points us to the only One worthy of our worship, our ultimate reward, Jesus Christ. We are not all speaking of the same thing when we use the word “God.” The gospel message of salvation points to the one, true God. It provides the narrow gate that we are told to enter. “For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt 7:13-14). That’s why I am superabundantly engaged in the message that I’ve heard. It tells us about the gate, the one Mediator whereby we can approach our God. And that is why I want others to hear it too. So let's not try to change the message to make us less annoying, and let us make sure that we know what that message is.