{"id":65287,"date":"2026-02-27T14:36:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?post_type=sermon-illustrations&p=65287"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:36:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:36:04","slug":"oppositional-defiant","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/oppositional-defiant\/","title":{"rendered":"Oppositional Defiant!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A psychological counselor reported an “ODD” experience with a client. The therapist had tentatively diagnosed the patient with ODD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder. You probably don’t have a psych dictionary on your apps, so here’s the Google definition of O.D.D., “A behavioral condition characterized by a persistent pattern of angry, irritable mood, argumentative and defiant behavior, or vindictiveness.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the counseling session, the therapist had said innocently, “Have a good day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The client responded angrily, “Don’t tell me what to do!!” That was the moment the therapist nailed the diagnosis!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may not have experienced an “O.D.D.” person, but we all may deal with a difficult or draining person (of course, we’re not difficult or draining, right?!).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3666,3779,4568,4628,4792],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-65287","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-conflict","tax_ctp_tags-difficult-people","tax_ctp_tags-opposition","tax_ctp_tags-persecution","tax_ctp_tags-relationship"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nOppositional Defiant! - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/oppositional-defiant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oppositional Defiant! - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A psychological counselor reported an “ODD” experience with a client. 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