Triggered?

Have you noticed how quickly people can be “triggered” about most any subject today? I don’t think I’d ever even heard the term three years ago. Now, the way that word has been adopted into our current culture is a little off its original purpose. Psychologists originally developed the term to describe “something that sets off a memory or flashback transporting the person back to the event of her/his original trauma.” A sort of PTSD reaction not the adulterated concept of any emotional response whether politics, media, or people. Let that happen to you and you are suddenly deemed a “triggered” crybaby. But in living languages words and their usages evolve. 

As men who spend our lives defending the Gospel, speaking out against injustice, decrying sin, proclaiming the whole counsel of God I can see how it might be easy for us to be triggered easily. God must have to for there are a number of warnings against such. 

Paul had left Timothy is Ephesus, a place of highly diverse religious practices and hair-triggered reactionist. A place where the political landscape allowed for protests and rioting. A place where religious bating would have been common fare. How did the Apostle instruct him?  “…a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

We can spend our time with politically driven media (it all is), drinking deeply from the spirit of controversy and allowing each item to trigger us or we can strive to be obedient to God’s command to not be quarrelsome. Let’s chose wisely. Constant triggering will eventually lead you to believe you do not and cannot make a difference and can cause you to want to throw in the towel. Don’t quit!