Day 13: Sandpaper People

Kerry brings us into the workshop today and talks about negative people being like sandpaper against our skin. But he carries the analogy further by comparing them to different tools. There’s …

1. The Measuring Tape; these are people that are always showing you how you don’t measure up.
2. The Hammer; they push their agenda by being loud and demanding, even manipulative.
3. The Skill Saw; these are super blunt people whose words cut deep and leave you bleeding emotionally.
4. Vise Grips; These are people that lock on to you and suck the life out of you because they are so needy.
5. The Grinder; these are the people that have explosive personalities and feel it’s their personal responsibility to cut people down to size.
6. The Hatchet; is the person who holds on to past hurts and grudges, using them against you.
7. Putty People; are those that have no backbone. They are people pleasers who blow with the wind.

How do you respond to these people? Or, maybe a better question is; are you one or more of these people? It’s easy to criticize others but Jesus told us to not worry about the speck in our friends eye when we’ve got a 2x4 in our own (Matthew 7:1). And besides, finding perfect people shouldn’t be our goal. God wants to use imperfect people to develop character in our lives. Our goal should be to respond well – revealing the character and love of Christ – in every relationship.