We Are All Different

“But now, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our Potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.”  Isaiah 64:8

For sure none of us are exactly alike!  We are all different shapes, sexes, ages, colors; we have different personalities, gifts, thinking processes, etc. and honestly, that is what makes life interesting and fun!!  However, because we are all different, we have a tendency to fall into satan’s traps way too often!  So….see if you are guilty of falling into any of these traps:

1.      Compare ourselves.  We compare ourselves to other minister’s wives, other women, dead women and sometimes people we don’t even know.  I wrote on this topic in a blog a few weeks ago if you want to check it out.  So, on a scale from one to five—how often do you compare yourself?

2.      Complain about our life.  What do you complain about?  Too hot?  Too cold?  Too old?  Too young?  Too tired?  Too busy?  The list could go on and on.  We must “learn” to be content.  Paul learned it!  (See Philippians 4:11)  On a scale from one to five.  How often do you complain?

3.      Complain about other people.  So, if we are not complaining about our life, we are complaining about others.  Who do you complain about?  Church members?  Staff?  Secretaries?  Spouse?  Mother?  Kids?  Boss?  Co-worker?  Instead of complaining about them, try praying for them.  One thing I have learned is that whenever someone is getting on my nerves—or my last nerve—I pray this:  “God, if the problem is with them, please change them!!  If it is with me—please change me!”  Honestly, most of the time it is ME that needs the changing!! HE is so good at changing not only us but those who are in our lives IF He sees they need to be changed.  Our complaining doesn’t change anything for good!  On a scale from one to five, how often do you complain about other people?

4.      Criticize others.  Who are you critical of?  Do you even realize that you are being critical?  We call it “venting” and think it is OK…..God calls it sin.  One thing I have discovered is that if I am critical of someone—chances are that I am guilty of doing the exact same thing that I am being critical of!!  Yikes!  We can get together with friends, family, co-workers and spend most of our time criticizing people!!  On a scale from one to five—how often do you criticize people?

I would love for each of us to honestly evaluate ourselves on the scale from 1 to 5.  How often do we compare, complain, criticize?  Or perhaps even better, how would those who know us best evaluate us???  Yikes!  Forgive us Father!!!