Tag: Humility

Morning Musing: Romans 15:14-16

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“My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Humility is one of the fundamental virtues necessary for growth and development in the Christian life. Embracing the Gospel begins from a place of humility—we must humbly accept that God is God and we are not. Along the way, though, ever more humility is required both to learn and to teach others. We see both sides of this humility in what Paul says next as he begins to turn much more personal as he is winding down this great letter.

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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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