Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, May 26, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Humility part two. I love the line about not claiming to be wiser than we are. I’m a lifelong academic overachiever/intellectual. I used to think I was always the smartest person in the room. And, boy, is that nothing whatsoever to do with wisdom. I was naïve and unworldly, and clueless about what other people thought or felt. Wisdom is not intellect. It comes with experience and…wait for it…humility. Being able to see things for what they are, including myself, has been a great gift of both the aging process and a rigorous twelve-step recovery program. I still won’t claim to be wise, or, at least, to be wiser than I am. There’s plenty of room for growth, which requires openness and honesty.
And that’s what we get to bring to our faith communities: our incomplete, developing, yet still whole selves in all our messiness with our growth edges and our gifts. Paul calls us to treat one another as equals, and to be teachable by the people around us. Honestly, I find that an exciting posture to take in approaching my community. There’s so much potential for new and wondrous learnings about who God is and who I am in relationship to God. If I already think I know everything, why bother?
How can God and my faith community help me to grow in wisdom?
