Today's Devotional

January 7, 2005

Subject:  What I Think About Me

Romans 12:3 - "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

I think I'm friendly, kind, humorous, stubborn, impatient at times, impulsive, demanding, persistent and pretty motivated about life.  I think I'm pretty good at interacting with people and helping those around me become better or more capable of living out their purpose.  That sometimes manifest itself in pushing people too far or expecting too much of them.  On a 1 to 10 scale of smart I think I'm probably about a 6 or 6.5.   

That's pretty much what I think of me.   Last night at our bible study, we were all sitting around identifying which biblical character that we thought we each most emulated.  It was interesting to see the characters that we picked and in each case, the character that was picked was picked because we emulated his/her flaws as well as their positive attributes.  I think that's a pretty sober assessment. 

The verse above shows something that many might miss as we walk the Christian life.  While the Christian life is to be a life of humility, we must be sober or "real" in our assessment of who we are.  The verse doesn't say, "don't think of yourself highly," it says, "don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think."  So how should we think of ourselves?  That's when it says, "soberly."  

So today whether you're filling out a resume or thanking someone for a compliment, be realistic about who you've become in Christ.  You do have abilities and you do have fruit that He's producing.  Don't renounce all of that in the name of humility, but instead glory in the changes that God has wrought in you.   If you do this properly, it won't just be what you think of yourself, but also what He knows of you and that's what's most important. 

Carlen