What the Mastercard Symbol Can Teach About Priorities
I've seen brothers and sisters in Christ churches unable to even acknowledge a common faith in Jesus for how disturbed and distraught they are over some example in Scripture or idea that they view differently.
The MasterCard Symbol
Play the original Excel Still More episode here without leaving the article.
The principle
Because the way it ought to be is this the things we share in common mean so much to us and bind us so well that the things we don't share in common are not allowed to get between us. Seeing things differently, outright disagreements do not have the power to sever our connection, and in fact, what is common between us is so great that eventually there is hope of aligning on even all of those other things.
Sounds like a wonderful way to live a life in your home, where you worship, and everywhere.
The deeper lesson
There is still a lot of red over on the left and yellow over on the right, but there in the middle there is this beautiful piece of overlap that looks like a football standing on its end and it represents a common space for both of them. If your parents raised you right, and by that I mean you had lots of corn dogs when you were a kid, with mustard on one side of the plate and ketchup on the other, and you used the stick to mix them together, then you probably already know what color is formed in that overlap on the MasterCard symbol.
And you cannot tell from casual observation if the red is laying over the yellow or the yellow over the red, only that the two have come together in a shared central color.
What it changes
I don't want to talk about politics and I don't have a ton of time left, but how much of that are we seeing in the church? We've got one person talking about this news channel and this movement, and the other person talking about this other news channel and some alternate movement, as if the two of us are miles apart when we're not miles apart.
We share a lot of the same beliefs about Christ and our nation and what is needed, but somehow we get to a point where all we know how to do is argue about your yellow section and my red one, and we forget.
Live it today
Outside of that, there are differences, conscience differences based on our history and our knowledge, new Christian versus longtime Christian understanding differences. Some of us look at certain examples in Scripture, what a church did here or did there, and they see the implications of that differently.
I wish we could find just the perfect answer, but I don't even know that the New Testament was built that way, because it is basically impossible that any two humans can see everything the same.
Take the idea with you.
- 01Where do I see the problem or opportunity described in “What the Mastercard Symbol Can Teach About Priorities” in my own life?
- 02What Scripture or spiritual principle in this study most needs my attention?
- 03What one specific change can I make this week to put this teaching into practice?
Prefer listening?
The original episode player is available near the top of this article, so you can listen without leaving the page.