How To Live With People You Don’t Trust He was sure that they were talking about him in a way that would not win his trust. Better put, he was sure his colleague was discussing the new idea he shared with him with his boss. His problem with that? He was sure the guy was taking credit for the idea. Trust is a big problem with this guy. This was one issue he saw with the guy. He couldn't be trusted not to want to have one over anyone and everyone — even if it meant stealing their ideas. He mentioned what happened to another colleague. Guess what, the guy had done the same thing to her! According to her, she had adopted an “avoid” strategy with him. She zipped her mouth when around him. She also avoided any non-official interaction with him. No need to show him any form of trust. “So what are you going to do about him” she asked him. “I haven't thought about it’ he replied. But he was thinking hard How was he going to deal with this “sneaky” colleague in a God-honoring way? When You've Been Struck By A Smooth Criminal The time-honored strategy for dealing with sneaky people is usually to keep them at bay. These sneaky people you don't trust! Give them a long yard — they won't bother you, you won't have to deal with them.This is a safe strategy. No harm was done, everyone living happily far apart. It ensures that the sneaky people don’t get in to hurt you and you don’t have to have your emotions wounded. It also ensures that the people around you are the ones that would support your view of life Having talked about this time-honored strategy, perhaps | can close now There Might Be Be A Better Way Part of the reason why most of us choose that strategy is because we don't want to risk anything. But the path of not taking risk is not always the Christian way. Some risks are worth taking because they make God happy. And more than that, we get to feel and see things a lot more as Jesus does So, I'd like to introduce you to a riskier approach. You might even find out that it’s a better way. Before the Riskier Way Anybody remember the story by Jesus of the king going to battle. According to Him, for a successful campaign, the king needs to fully assess his army and the army of his opponent. (Luk 14:31 = ,32t) In case he needs to ask for terms of peace instead of jumping into battle So, what do you need to have in place before you try out this riskier way? You need to have a clear sense of who you are. And you also need confidence in God's never-forgetting ability to always give you a platform to shine. What do | mean?1 — Clear Sense Of Who You Are: And this is not a Disney movie where you have to believe in yourself or trust your heart. The reason? If you are the source of how you define who you are, you are trying to play God. Playing God is a role too big for even you — despite the fact that it’s your life. If God made you, it means that the answer to who you are and all you can be will come from Him. God made you live on this blue earth — this means He sent you in with the tools to make the best out of every situation in life. Start with that - you are someone who has a God-given ability to make a mark on God's blue earth. And you can make a great adventure out of it 2 Confidence In God’s Never-Forgetting Ability: So, you know you have the skills but the opportunities don’t seem to be coming. You think someone forgot to bring up your case file at the Make-Things-Happen desk. I guess even Jos. even asked the Cup-bearer to put in a good word for him since the tables were turning for him in three days. ph must have thought the same thing when he was in prison. He But if the cup-bearer had done what Joseph asked, he probably would have just been an ex-con Hebrew slave. The delay in bringing his case up eventually gave him a bigger platform to shine. And he becomes Number Two to the big boss His story takes a cycle back to the original script when he had a couple of dreams as a teenager. The dreams were God's quiet way of telling him that He had big plans for Joseph. Big plans that came true despite the delays that little Joe thought he had along the way. God never forgets and He gives the right platform at the right time for you to shine And no one steals your platform. No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves. It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.