Skip to main content

Sober Judgment

           For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Romans 12:3)

When we read this passage, we tend to get stuck on the “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought” part. One way we can respond is with a smug, “I don’t think more highly than I ought. I’m great.” Another is with an equal, but negative smugness. “I don’t think more highly than I ought. I’m a worm.”

But neither of those tends to involve sober judgment. Either we compare our highest with the lowest of the lowly and declare ourselves great, or we compare our lowest with the highest of the high and declare ourselves worms. Instead, we are supposed to use sober judgment.

And that’s when Paul hits us with the next phrase. We are to judge ourselves in accordance with the faith… Two possibilities come to mind. When during Jesus’ physical ministry on Earth, He often chided people about how little faith they had. If we had the faith of a mustard seed (a passage we’ll have to look at soon) how much we could do. So, one possibility is that when we judge ourselves, we should do so in terms of how much faith we have and how strong it is. In doing so, we should remember that He gave us the faith fir us to use. It is at least a big part of our greatness.

The other option is that we judge ourselves using faith in what God’s Word tells us of ourselves, even if we don’t see it. Perhaps especially if we don’t see it. It’s not about how great we are now, but about how great He will cause us to become. That is a tiny reflection of His greatness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more