Rocks or Stones

I was talking to a fellow Christian one day and they were telling me about a walk along the beach. As they looked around they saw a rock. It was rough and had sharp jagged edges. Yes, it was solid and beautiful and God had made it for a purpose. Further along the beach there were some round smooth stones that were the same colour of the rock. This is what happens when people meet in fellowship God said.

How did the stones become smooth and round? The wind, sea and the sand worked on the rock; some of the rock was broken some off. The water carried it away out to sea and rolled it around and backwards and forwards to the shore time and again in amongst other pieces of rock. As the smaller pieces rubbed and rolled together in the sea, the sharp edges were knocked off and the rocks rolled around and around until they were smooth. This process took a long time, years of being moved around and tumbled about in the turbulence created by lots of storms.

Many people avoid going to church, they find that the people are too hard to get along with, or they don’t feel comfortable, the message isn’t to their liking. There are plenty of excuses that are used. They will tell you that they do not have to attend church services to be a Christian, to have fellowship with God. While this is true, very true, it is the time we spend with other Christians that helps us to grow in Christ. Why does it help us grow? It is the process of having to get along with people, relying on God to help us to understand the other person’s point of view, , putting others needs first despite how we feel and listening to the lessons that God wants us to hear that changes us from sharp rough rocks to smooth round stones.

I used to tell my kids that God put us into a family to teach us to get along with people that we don’t always particularly like and this can also be true when it comes to our church families as well. We do not like everyone in our church family. Some people are just annoying; they rub us up the wrong way, that is human nature. However, each time we hold our tongue and don’t retort back, each time we pray for someone who has hurt us, we grow into a nicer person. We become a little smoother. God has told us to love all the people he brings into our lives. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44. Yes, it’s a hard thing to go through and a much as we don’t like it, it is the process that will make us a better person for Christ and will bring us closer to Him.

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25. Are you willing to let God turn you into a smooth stone by continuing to go to church each week?