Smooth out the edges

So after working in a church for a while you realize there are a whole mess of well…crazy people out there! You know the kind of people that who after they come around you, you have to ask Jesus for a little more patience. You might say to me, you don’t even know about the people I have to deal with in a day, week, or month, but I can guarantee that we all have those who get under our skin.

Kerry Shook in “One Month to Live” called these people sandpaper people, because they are rough to deal with but they can help smooth out the edges in our own lives. And do you want to know a secret, we are sandpaper people, we all drive someone in this world a little crazy. You never thought of that have you? Think about the person who really drives you up a wall, and then think about the fact that you do that to someone else. It’s comforting isn’t it?

 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10 

(Who is a sandpaper person in your life presently? How do you usually relate to them?)

An easy way to help understand others is to identify how they bug you. What part of their personality do you struggle with? Then think about how that person was raised, the life they have lived. This could be the explanation for how they behave. We have to realize that no one is normal, there is no such thing as normal, God has made us all unique. We should not try and pick someone apart when we all have our own problems we have to deal with.

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, 

but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 

‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?"

Matthew 7:3-4 

God puts people in our life sometimes to help smooth us out and to try to help us be transformed from what we were to become more like Jesus.

Portions quoted other than scripture came from "One Month to Live" by Pastor Kerry & Chris Shook, to buy click http://www.onemonthtolive.com/

True Values

“Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this”

Psalm 37:3-5

Ever wonder why so many times we wait till we have a major issue in our life before we let God catch our attention? We get off track and start on a path to a collision and don’t know how to apply the brakes. Many times it start when our time is crunched, we get overbooked and feel overwhelmed because we know we don’t have enough time. Many times we think we can just manage our life better to solve the problem, but have you ever thought that maybe we are spending time of things that really are not important?

(“When was the last time you experienced a life collision,

a season or experience in which you found yourself coming apart at the seams?”)

We think our schedule is overbooked because we have to many things to do in a day, it may just be we need to reevaluate our lives based on our values not what we would like to get done. Many times we say our health, spouse, or children are important to us, but does our schedule and time spent line up with this belief? Other times we need to seek God’s point of view and ask “Is what I am spending time on what you want me to spend time on?” Our values are based off of what we truly believe is important. Do you work late when your kids have games or plays you should be at? Do you feel it is more important to sleep in on a Sunday rather than show up to worship God with the church your part of? No matter what you think you hold near you true test of what you value will be tied to what you spend time doing.

Take time today to ask God if the things you value and the things He values line up.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6


Portions quoted other than scripture came from "One Month to Live" by Pastor Kerry & Chris Shook, to buy click http://www.onemonthtolive.com/