“I am called to be a vehicle of God’s grace to the people in my life.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – September 9, 2025
by Mez Stead
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience… And above all these put on love. Colossians 3:12-14a
At times, I have been convicted by members of the animal kingdom. One recent instance was upon reading a children’s National Geographic guide with my son about the spider monkey. What gave me pause to ponder was this: when a baby spider monkey comes against a limb that proves too far for its yet undeveloped climbing skills, the spider monkey mother will stretch herself out to bridge the gap with her own body, allowing her little ones to use her as a ladder to higher ground.
Enter conviction as I asked myself, how often do I show such patient grace to my children when they display their very natural immaturity? How easy it is to respond in frustration, making them feel that they’ve missed the mark. But what if instead, like the mother spider monkey, I made it my mission to help them achieve the mark by bridging the gap with patience, grace, love? Isn’t it a mother’s calling to, day-in, day-out, become a bridge for our children, meeting them where they are and doing whatever it takes to help them reach their God-given potential? Is that not exactly what Christ does for me? This is the call of love – to lay down our lives, not only in death, but in life. To bridge the gap for those who can’t yet reach higher ground on their own.
Of course, the call is not for mothers alone. It lays claim on every relationship. When my spouse comes home in a mood that is less than pleasant, do I throw up a wall of resentment? Or do I lay myself out as a bridge, granting the patience and compassion to enable a way back to shalom? When I encounter a brother or sister stumbling in their walk with the Lord, do I play the critic, perhaps gloating just a little bit in my own comparative righteousness? Or do I follow Christ’s example and go out of my way to be the bridge that ushers that struggling one back to Christ’s throne of grace?
Certainly, to be a bridge will mean being trodden on. It will mean bearing up another’s burdens as we support them to do what they cannot yet do on their own. But take courage! Our Lord never asks us to do for another what He has not already done perfectly for each of us. He became the ultimate bridge back to the Father when he stretched out his own body on the cross. And not a moment of life, in all of its struggles, goes by that He is not interceding for us, offering us every help to come further up and further into His grace.
Prayer
Lord, I confess that it is easier to perch myself on higher ground and criticize those struggling around me than to lay myself down for them. Remind me daily that you lay your perfect life down for me to make a way back home to God. Make me humble and compassionate to those you’ve placed in my life. Amen
Application
We can only be the true friend and help to those struggling in our lives when we ourselves are coming humbly before Christ’s throne of grace for help.
Related Reading
Romans 2:4; Ephesians 4:32; John 15:13-15; Ecclesiastes 4:9-10; Hebrews 4:15-16
Worship Resource
Put on Love: Colossians 3:12 & 14a
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