{"id":1403,"date":"2014-04-26T23:25:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T23:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2014-04-26T23:25:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-26T23:25:27","slug":"lessons-from-sheep-shearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=1403","title":{"rendered":"Lessons From Sheep Shearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was watching some video’s on how to shear sheep.\u00a0 It’s pretty interesting, but I’m not ready to give it a try.\u00a0 If you want to watch click here<\/a>. The reason I was watching the video’s is that I had heard that sheep have to be sheared before summer or they could actually die from the heat.\u00a0 So I started researching this to find out more.<\/p>\n

The first time a sheep is sheared it puts up quite a fight and I am sure feels like its in danger.\u00a0 However once they experience what its like after being sheared they are much more cooperative the next time.\u00a0 They soon discover that without all that wool it’s much cooler and they don’t get sick as easily.\u00a0 So the next time they sit quietly while the shearing happens, because they know they are not going to be hurt, but helped.<\/p>\n

As I was thinking about that I realized that many of us need to be sheared as well.\u00a0 We have weaknesses that cause us to fail and struggle and overheat\/stress out.\u00a0 We need to have the layers of sin, bad attitudes, hurts and hang-ups cut away.\u00a0 But when someone tries to do that we fight and kick and are scared or angry.\u00a0 You see we can’t shear ourselves, we need the help of other people.\u00a0 Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”<\/em>\u00a0 That is the point of accountability, caring enough about another person to respectfully shear away the layers of life.<\/p>\n

If you want to be sheared here are three things that must happen:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Take responsibility and admit your weakness<\/strong> – You are the only one that can decide to change or allow someone to shear you.\u00a0 It takes humility and self-awareness to take this first step, but without doing this nothing will change.\u00a0 I believe this is only possible with Gods help, by asking him to reveal the things we need to own and shear, and then asking for the courage to take responsibility.<\/li>\n
  2. Raise your expectations for yourself – <\/strong>We talk ourselves into and out of a lot of things.\u00a0 Over the years we tend to lower our standards and accept things we would not have before.\u00a0 In 1 Peter 1:13-16 it says this “So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, ‘I am holy; you be holy.'”<\/em>\u00a0 So don’t settle for mediocre, God has a greater purpose and plan for your life.<\/li>\n
  3. Find a trusted partner – <\/strong>If you really want to change and be sheared, you will need some trusted friends to help along the way.\u00a0 Shearing is not a one time thing, it needs to be done over and over again.\u00a0 It’s the same with us, we need to be held accountable over and over again.\u00a0 That’s why we all need some people that we can confess too, that we can listen too, that we can talk too.\u00a0 If you don’t have someone like this in your life start praying and ask God to bring the right people into your life that can be on your shearing team.\u00a0 Remember after the shearing you will feel so much better, after the confession is great freedom.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The cool thing about this whole process is that when you allow someone else to sharpen you or shear you, you can in turn sharpen and shear them.\u00a0 That only happens when you you are open and honest.\u00a0 If you hide your stuff it can’t get sheared.\u00a0 Happy shearing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I was watching some video’s on how to shear sheep.\u00a0 It’s pretty interesting, but I’m not ready to give it a try.\u00a0 If you want to watch click here. The reason I was watching the video’s is that I had heard that sheep have to be sheared before summer or they could actually die … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “Lessons From Sheep Shearing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2,20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-change","category-character","category-discipleship","category-personal-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1403"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1407,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403\/revisions\/1407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}