I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. —John 15:1
God will put people in your life to perfect the fruit of His Spirit in you. But if you say, “We have a personality conflict, and I am just going to have to get away from that person,” you take the pruning shears of the Holy Spirit out of God’s hands.
When He wanted to cut that thing off that hindered your growth, you said, “No, God, I won’t change there. I like that fruit. Don’t change that, God. Get your pruning shears away from me.”
God brought that person or situation into your life, because there is an area of your life only that person, that relationship or that situation can perfect in you. They may be God’s sandpaper, smoothing out the rough edges in your life. They may be the irritation, like sand in an oyster, that produces a pearl in your life. Notice the people God brings into your life, and you will begin to see the kind of person you are with God. He says, “Show that person the same love, compassion, forgiveness, patience, and tolerance I have shown you.”
Lord, help me stop complaining about
irritating people in my life. Use them
to help me grow in faith, wisdom, and
maturity. Thank you, Lord, for pruning
the dead wood and rough areas out of
my life. Amen.
