September 19, 2025

The Bible…annoying, right?

Don’t judge me—I was running late.

My meeting was scheduled for 9:00am, and Waze kindly pointed out that I wouldn’t arrive until 9:01am, and only if I was already leaving my driveway—and I was standing in my living room.

So, I’m in the car fairly quickly and down the road 5 minutes when I arrive at a stop sign. As I accelerate past the intersection, I saw a gentleman standing at the end of a driveway beside a car with its hood up. Now, I’ll remind you that I was running late…

Let’s pause here to unpack my inflammatory statement a bit.

When I said the Bible is annoying, I only meant that the living and active Word of God convicts me when I read it and commit it to memory—which I find annoying. Now, I know you are rightly thinking that my heart should naturally align more closely with the Bible over time, and that operating in God’s economy should become more pleasant and natural. But let’s be honest—it often hits as inconvenient and irritating.

One way biblical knowledge convicts me is through my awareness of unambiguous instruction like, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." (James 4:17; NIV) If you never knew that is in the Bible, I’d like to simultaneously apologize and welcome you to the “now you know club.”

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I was still driving while I processed, and it took me half a mile or so for my brain to recognize that some guy was standing in his driveway at 8:15am, not in his pajamas, staring under the hood of a car.

Then my brain connected some important dots:

DOT A: He probably walked out of his house that morning just in time to get someplace important, just to find a dead car battery. Now he’s going to be late. Well, that stinks!

DOT B: I have jumper cables in my trunk.

DOT C: I’m late.

And then the other shoe dropped.

Another way biblical knowledge becomes an ear worm in my moral psyche is through its stories—which is exactly what hit me another mile or so down the road. You’re probably familiar with one of Jesus’ more famous parables in which three people encountered an injured person on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It may or may not surprise you how regularly that story comes to mind when I see someone who needs help—it’s a lot! And it is certainly not going to be surprising that it most of the time comes to mind when I’m on the road, trying to get somewhere. Annoying, right?

Back to our regularly scheduled story, already in progress…

I’m still driving as my brain connected some more dots:

DOT D: I see someone on the road who needs help.

DOT E: I have jumper cables in my trunk.

DOT F: But I’m already three miles down the road now.

I started to think that maybe I should turn around. But then I thought that I could just say a prayer for the guy. I mean, at least I recognized that he was having a bad day. Several more telephone poles went whizzing by.

DOT G: He’s three miles back by now.

DOT H: Turning around would make me very very late.

It’s time for a perspective check.

Do you know why deep knowledge of the Bible can sometimes feel annoying? It’s because living a biblical life demands sacrifice, and sacrifice often costs time, energy, money—and maybe even punctuality.

So where did things stand?

DOT I: I knew the good I ought to do.

DOT J: I knew the parable of the Good Samaritan.

I found the next driveway and executed a flawless three-point turn. My drive back to the stop sign seemed to take forever as I was calculating how much time it was adding to my trip, but I finally made it. He was still in his driveway. His car hood was still up. No one else had stopped to take one for the team.

So I pulled into his driveway, rolled down my window, and said in my least creepie voice, “Good morning! Do you need a jump?” He smiled, and it occurred to me that he seemed genuinely surprised and pleased that someone took the time to stop and ask if he needed help. But then he looked down at his engine, looked back at me, and said, “Thanks, but it’s not the battery—and I already have a tow truck on its way.”

            DOT K: I guess I could have just kept driving.

            DOT L: Annoying, right?

So what is the takeaway of this story?

How well do you know the Bible? Do you know it well enough that it’s ever been inconvenient or irritating? I hope so. And if it’s true, it may be that you are a better person than me, and that you never find it annoying to have to reorder your life according to God’s Word.

But I know for sure that if you have ever sacrificed to live biblically—whether you did something good or chose to not do something bad—God was pleased.

And just in case you are wondering, yes, I was late to my meeting.

Jeff Derico

Executive Pastor

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