Tag: Humility

Morning Musing: Romans 12:16

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“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A friend of mine pastors a church that’s hard. The congregation has a reputation for being a church that chews up pastors and spits them out. There constantly seems to be discord among the members. Someone is always upset about something. My friend spends a fair bit of his time putting out fires. From the outside looking in, the people there do no live in harmony with one another. It makes accomplishing effective ministry a great deal more difficult than it might otherwise be. A church wracked by disharmony is going to have a much harder time proclaiming and advancing the Gospel than one that isn’t. This is why Paul gave us this next series of commands for living the Christian life well. Let’s continue our exploration of his practical list of how what it looks like to follow Jesus.

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Morning Musing: Romans 12:3

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“For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Christianity has changed the world many times over. One of the ways it has done this is through its revolution and expansion of virtue. The number of characteristics considered to be virtues and encouraged for its followers to adopt into their own lives was greatly expanded by the teachings of Jesus and His first followers. One of the most radical of these changes was the transformation of one attitude into a virtue that had always been considered a vice. Let’s talk about what it was.

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 22:3

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“A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever wanted something really badly, but couldn’t seem to get there for some reason? Maybe you didn’t have the resources to achieve it. Perhaps there was something physical holding you back. It could be that culture simply wasn’t allowing for it. Whatever the reason, you were feeling denied something you really wanted or even felt like should be yours by right. What did you do then? Did you give up and go in another direction, or did you keep right on going, pressing on until you got it no matter what the cost happened to be? The newest Marvel offering from Disney+ is about just such a character. She couldn’t get what she wanted on her own, so she just kept pushing until she got it. And that’s the problem. Let’s talk today about Ironheart.

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How Not to Comfort the Hurting

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It’s hard to see someone you love go through a hard experience. That can be almost as hard – and sometimes even harder – than going through one yourself. What do you say in such a situation? How do you offer meaningful comfort and support and encouragement? The next stop on our survey of Job’s incredible story takes us into the conversation between Job and his friends that occupies the bulk of the narrative. To call it an interesting conversation is an understatement. Let’s dive into some of the details to see just how not to comfort the hurting and some clues as to the kind of posture from which we can find the hope and help we seek.

How Not to Comfort the Hurting

Have you ever been sure you were right…until you learned you weren’t? Join me for a quick trip down memory lane, if you would. It’s a bright and sunny Saturday morning. And it’s already hot. The boys were all still little which meant they were still all getting up really, really early. They were all still getting up really early no matter what time they had gone to bed the night before…and this particular night before had been late. There wasn’t much else going on this particular day. Instead, it was one of those days when it had already felt like a long day by 9:30. In order to give everyone a much needed change of scenery, we decided to go to the local pool. But because we had something going on later in the day, combined with the fact that it was swelteringly hot, we decided to make it a fairly brief trip. What makes that significant here is that it meant we weren’t going to let the boys take nearly as many pool toys as we normally did…much to their significant and expressed disappointment. 

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Advent Reflections: Philippians 2:5-11

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“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow  — in heaven and on earth and under the earth  — and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love babies. That’s just a fun season of life as a parent. Oh, it’s plenty hard as well. It’s exhausting and stressful and frustrating and the like. But every time that little one looks at you and smiles, you pretty well forget about all the rest of that and just bask in the love and trust inherent in that little face. But babies are helpless little things. They can’t do anything for themselves. At all. A baby left alone will die. A human baby is about as humble a creature as exists in the world. Well, the Advent season is about celebrating that humble creature. It is about celebrating one particular of those humble creatures who was also God. Let’s talk about it

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