Me: Are you playing basketball?
Prodigal: Yes, I am playing with my friend.
Me: How are you doing?
Prodigal: He’s so fast he can blow out the candle and jump into bed before it gets dark.
Me: That must be a tough game then.
Prodigal: It sure is.
Me: Well let me share while you are resting.
This is from the book You Can Change by Tim Chester
God is using the different people, the contrasting personalities, in your church to change your heart. He’s using the difficult people, the annoying people, the sinful people. He’s placed you together so you can rub off each other’s rough edges. It’s as if God has put us, like rocks, into a bag and is shaking us about so that we collide with one another. Sometimes sparks fly, but gradually we become beautiful, smooth gemstones. Remember the next time someone is rubbing you the wrong way that God is smoothing you down! God has give you the person in his love as a gift to make you holy. Sinclair Ferguson comments, “The church is a community in which we receive spiritual help, but also one in which deep-seated problems will come to the surface and will require treatment….We often discover things about our own hearts which we never anticipated.
Guess what I am one of those annoying sinful people. I know sparks are flying but lets focus on Christ so that we become beautiful smooth gemstones.
Proverbs 21:21
Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
