Morning Musing: Colossians 3:12-13

“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been stuck? There are all kinds of ways to be stuck. We can be stuck in traffic. We can be stuck on a math problem. We can be stuck on a vehicle repair. We can be stuck on a writing assignment. We can be stuck on a word puzzle. Being stuck isn’t much fun, especially when we can’t immediately see how to get ourselves unstuck. As frustrating as all of those different forms of being stuck can be, there’s another that can be even harder to experience. We can be relationally stuck. Getting stuck in the context of a relationship can feel like it puts our entire life on hold. Even being relationally stuck, though, can come from a number of different sources such that getting unstuck can feel almost impossible. Today, let’s talk about a way to help us move forward when we’re relationally stuck that works in almost every situation.

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Humility > Greatness

As we continue our journey to the cross with Mark this week, we are taking a look at a series of debate Jesus had with the religious leaders of the Jews. These guys were convinced of their own self-importance and were doing everything they could to catch Jesus in a trap. Unfortunately for them, Jesus was smarter than they were. He was never impressed with greatness anyway. What really got His attention was something else entirely. Let’s talk about what that is today and what it means for us.

Humility > Greatness

When I was growing up, one of my family’s favorite places to eat was a pizza place around the corner from our house called Pizza Shoppe. We were there often enough that the owner knew who we were. I loved the place because it was close, it was familiar, and it had two tabletop arcade games that I got to play while we waited for the food and while the adults were visiting after dinner when we went with friends. Oh yeah, and the pizza was really good. I remember one time when the owner came out and was talking with us. I’m not sure what prompted the conversation, but I remember his talking about the process of making pizza and making sure that it looked as good as it tasted. He said that people eat with their eyes first. If he was to make a pizza that looked like a bunch of slop on a plate, even if it was the best-tasting pizza that had ever been created, no one was going to be interested in eating it. 

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