“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 has dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
There is one thing that we learn as we grow into adulthood: We will always have to deal with people – all sorts of people. We have to deal with them at work, at church, and in the communities in which we live. But there is one main person that we have to deal with and this is self. This is the person that we have to deal with twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This is the person that we look at in the mirror every day. Our relationships with others will depend a lot on how we deal with self. Paul gives us some advice on this business of dealing with self. First, he tells us “not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think." That is, that we should not be conceited and think that we are better than everyone else. In order to keep from being conceited we need to not think of ourselves more often than we should think. If we aren’t careful, we will find our days consumed with thoughts about ourselves, and everything that we think or do, has to do with how things will affect “me.” To a certain extent this is natural, but when we think of self too much, we will spiritually and emotionally alienate ourselves from other people. Self preservation is a natural instinct, but to be obsessed with self preservation is not only unspiritual, it is unhealthy. Everything is not about us and how things affect us. Preoccupation with self interferes with our fellowship with each other. Take a little time and consciously try to think of yourself less and others more. Try not to make everything about yourself. Second, he tells us to “think soberly” about ourselves. This means that we should give serious thought to ourselves and be honest with ourselves about ourselves. We should take an honest look at ourselves, and if we are thinking about ourselves too highly or too frequently, we should ask God to help us to have a healthy view of self. I know from personal experience that it is sometimes difficult to look at ourselves honestly and to tell ourselves the truth about ourselves. It will horrify us sometimes that we are as preoccupied with ourselves as we are. Jesus is certainly our example here. I think that Jesus had a healthy view of Himself, and He certainly wasn’t hampered with feelings of inferiority, but He always took time to think about and minister to other people. Even when Jesus tried to get away and spend some time alone, He would always end up ministering to the people who came to Him. He looked with compassion on other people. It is at this point that we need to ask ourselves if we are compassionate toward other people, or if we just tolerate them. Think honestly, now, about your relationships with people. Does “self” keep getting in the way? Third, he told us to think “soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.” We don’t usually think about faith as a gift from God, but it is. He has given us a “measure of faith” so that we can look at ourselves soberly and put ourselves in line with what faith is demanding of us. In the Bible, people like Peter, Andrew, James, and John had to think soberly about themselves. Would their faith enable these ordinary men to give up their occupation as fishermen, follow Jesus and become “fishers of men”? It was by faith that these men surrendered “self” to Jesus and went about doing what He would have them do. Maybe it is time that we took a look at ourselves and ask ourselves what difference our faith is making in our lives pertaining to decisions that we make about service for the Lord. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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