Drives me crazy!

Earle D. Treptow 

“Drives me crazy!” he said, after recounting his technology woes to a friend. Maybe you’ve uttered those same words, whether about technology or something else.  

So, what’s on your list of frustrations? What drives you crazy?  

Imagine posing that question to a thousand people. A handful might likely take the high road and say that nothing really bothers them. Most, however, would be able to rattle off a list, ranging from pet peeves to more serious matters.  

Sometimes it’s situations and events. Sentences that begin with “Traffic that makes a 15-minute trip take an hour,” or “The critter that thinks my garden is its café,” or “A cell phone battery that constantly needs be recharged” all end with “drives me crazy.”  

Popular ideas and attitudes may also drive us crazy. Perhaps it’s some political news or even some popular ideas about the Bible. When articles and books simply assume that the world evolved over billions of years, those who believe that God created the world might be annoyed. The Christian may also experience frustration at the idea that gender identity is only a social construct and not something God has designed.  

Often, it’s people who drive us crazy. Some act as if the rules don’t apply to them. The sign says, “Clean the microwave after you use it,” but you have to clean it before you can use it. Sometimes it’s what people say. They know all the answers and won’t listen to anything else. For example, when they assert that homosexual relationships are perfectly normal then charge us with being intolerant when we try to offer a different view. They won’t allow us to explain that homosexuality isn’t an unforgivable sin and that the Bible’s primary message is that Jesus died for all sinners. We may well find ourselves saying, “Drives me crazy!” They drive us crazy because they defy what God has to say in his Word. They imagine that they know better than God.  

Do you know the real reason people drive me crazy? It’s because I’ve forgotten what God says people are like by nature because of the sinfulness they inherited from their parents. It’s hardly shocking that those who do not know God’s Word would hold a position contrary to it and speak passionately against it. I ought to expect that people might lash out against any who would speak against their views, because by nature they think God’s Word is foolish. 

In the final analysis, people drive me crazy because I’ve forgotten who I am. If I knew myself the way the apostle Paul knew himself—as the worst of sinners and an unworthy recipient of God’s love—I wouldn’t be so easily frustrated with others. I would recognize that, were it not for the grace of God in giving me faith, I would be thinking, speaking, and acting the very same way they do.  

When the Spirit helps me remember God’s extraordinary patience with me, I strive to be patient with others. I confess God’s truth to those who do not know Jesus as their Savior and trust him to work through it in his time. I seek to bear with my fellow Christians in love, realizing that maybe, just maybe, I drive people crazy too. And then I thank God anew for covering me with Christ and choosing not to say of me, “He drives me crazy!”  

Contributing editor, Earle Treptow is professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wisconsin, and a member at Christ Alone, Thiensville, Wisconsin.  

Author: Earle D. Treptow
Volume 105, Number 11
Issue: November 2018

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