wisdom

i did not have the greatest night of sleep last night.

surely, part of it was due to the exceedingly large cup of tea i had only moments before i went to bed. but another part was due to a conversation that i had with someone yesterday... a conversation i would rather not have happened, but was apparently unavoidable.

i won't get into the details, they really aren't what is important. what is important, is that while i may not have returned the biting comments that came my way, and while i said nothing but all the right words one could say in such a situation, i did not show this person love during the exchange. i shared the necessary information, but that was all.

then, this morning, reading mark 12 with youversion.com's reading plan, i was reminded of this incident in Jesus' life...

Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”

They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.

Jesus was bated, and yet managed to answer with wisdom and grace.

i still have so much to learn from him...