Today’s Readings: Psalm 12; Daniel 3:1-18; Luke 24:13-27; Colossians 3:1-17; Psalm 7
Featured Reading: Colossians 3:1-17
Do you ever have one of those moments when you read a piece of Scripture and have the feeling a section was written with just you in mind? I had one of those moments this morning while I was reading today’s passage from Colossians. Let me give you a little background on why I felt that way. You see of all the character deficits I have, there is one that I’m least proud. I am by nature probably one of the most competitive human beings on the planet. I was reminded of this last Saturday when I was on vacation in Spokane, WA and my siblings decided to renew what has become a tradition during my annual visits: the four of us go off and spend some time together without any others present. During this time together we do things like catch a movie, go bowling, and eat dinner. Last Saturday, I asked my siblings if we could go miniature golfing at a place I had never been to before called Wonderland. They agreed. I knew I was going to be in trouble when I put the ball on the turf and had a bad first hole. In fact, it wasn’t just a bad first hole – it was a historically bad first hole! I could feel the competitive juices kicking in. As I tried to recover from the horrific first hole, I consoled myself by thinking: “Don’t worry. Your brothers and sister will eventually falter themselves and you’ll catch up.” Problem is they didn’t. We played all 18 holes and ended up finishing in our birth order: my oldest brother Gene came in first, my next oldest brother Keith came in second, my sister came in third, and I finished in last place. I was mortified! I took some consolation in the fact that if you were to separate the holes into groups of nine, I actually won the back 9. How sick is that!!! Needless to say, I felt challenged by the author of Colossians words when he said: “Be even-tempered, content with second-place [emphasis added]…” (Colossians 3:12 from The Message). “Yeah, right,” I thought to myself, “those are words spoken by someone not good enough to grab the gold!” I told you I had a sickness! As I sat with those words and explored why they bothered me so, I realized those words represented a wonderful opportunity for me to do some work on my growing edge: letting go of my competitive nature. The passage from Colossians contains lots of qualities we can aspire to in our spiritual lives: qualities like being compassionate, kind, humble, quietly strong, disciplined, and loving. Which of those qualities represent your growing edge? If none of those concepts seem particularly challenging to you, spend some time exploring what other qualities might be that growing edge for you. Til next time…
Featured Reading: Colossians 3:1-17
Do you ever have one of those moments when you read a piece of Scripture and have the feeling a section was written with just you in mind? I had one of those moments this morning while I was reading today’s passage from Colossians. Let me give you a little background on why I felt that way. You see of all the character deficits I have, there is one that I’m least proud. I am by nature probably one of the most competitive human beings on the planet. I was reminded of this last Saturday when I was on vacation in Spokane, WA and my siblings decided to renew what has become a tradition during my annual visits: the four of us go off and spend some time together without any others present. During this time together we do things like catch a movie, go bowling, and eat dinner. Last Saturday, I asked my siblings if we could go miniature golfing at a place I had never been to before called Wonderland. They agreed. I knew I was going to be in trouble when I put the ball on the turf and had a bad first hole. In fact, it wasn’t just a bad first hole – it was a historically bad first hole! I could feel the competitive juices kicking in. As I tried to recover from the horrific first hole, I consoled myself by thinking: “Don’t worry. Your brothers and sister will eventually falter themselves and you’ll catch up.” Problem is they didn’t. We played all 18 holes and ended up finishing in our birth order: my oldest brother Gene came in first, my next oldest brother Keith came in second, my sister came in third, and I finished in last place. I was mortified! I took some consolation in the fact that if you were to separate the holes into groups of nine, I actually won the back 9. How sick is that!!! Needless to say, I felt challenged by the author of Colossians words when he said: “Be even-tempered, content with second-place [emphasis added]…” (Colossians 3:12 from The Message). “Yeah, right,” I thought to myself, “those are words spoken by someone not good enough to grab the gold!” I told you I had a sickness! As I sat with those words and explored why they bothered me so, I realized those words represented a wonderful opportunity for me to do some work on my growing edge: letting go of my competitive nature. The passage from Colossians contains lots of qualities we can aspire to in our spiritual lives: qualities like being compassionate, kind, humble, quietly strong, disciplined, and loving. Which of those qualities represent your growing edge? If none of those concepts seem particularly challenging to you, spend some time exploring what other qualities might be that growing edge for you. Til next time…
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