"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." -Romans 12:3
Ministry matters, and being rightly equipped to fulfill the ministry matters. Paul appeals to an honest assessment of ourselves and he does this by contrasting two things a “high-minded” attitude and a sober attitude literally the word "soberly" here means “right-minded”.
God wants us to have a sane and sober view of ourselves before we can pursue and develop our gifts in the ministry.
When I was younger in my BC days
I was at this party, there was music and people were dancing, and I was pretty intoxicated. So I decided to C-walk (gangsta dancing). So I’m there in the middle of the crowd smiling, real sure of myself getting every step right. It was time to go, so I waved my fans goodbye and exited the stage. The next day when I was good and sober I started to think back about the night before and I remembered that I can’t crip walk because I’m a terrible dancer LOL. I was later told that I made a fool of myself that night.
Likewise pride intoxicates and we end up looking like overconfident fools. God wants us to be sober minded instead!
You see being conceited or arrogant, thinking we are better than others because of where we came from, or where we studied, or where we used to go to church--you name it, will intoxicate us and prevent us from fully engaging with our God given gifts.
Pride can be seen in two ways: Either we think we are overqualified or we think we are under qualified. Both attitudes place the person first before God. One says “I'm too qualified to teach Sunday school but I'll take the pulpit” and the other says “Oh I'm not qualified enough to do anything". Let's not be like that; thinking too highly of ourselves or too low, but let's have the right mind and attitude in life knowing that God has given the right amount of grace to accomplish His calling in us.
God wants us to have a sane and sober view of ourselves before we can pursue and develop our gifts in the ministry.
When I was younger in my BC days
I was at this party, there was music and people were dancing, and I was pretty intoxicated. So I decided to C-walk (gangsta dancing). So I’m there in the middle of the crowd smiling, real sure of myself getting every step right. It was time to go, so I waved my fans goodbye and exited the stage. The next day when I was good and sober I started to think back about the night before and I remembered that I can’t crip walk because I’m a terrible dancer LOL. I was later told that I made a fool of myself that night.
Likewise pride intoxicates and we end up looking like overconfident fools. God wants us to be sober minded instead!
You see being conceited or arrogant, thinking we are better than others because of where we came from, or where we studied, or where we used to go to church--you name it, will intoxicate us and prevent us from fully engaging with our God given gifts.
Pride can be seen in two ways: Either we think we are overqualified or we think we are under qualified. Both attitudes place the person first before God. One says “I'm too qualified to teach Sunday school but I'll take the pulpit” and the other says “Oh I'm not qualified enough to do anything". Let's not be like that; thinking too highly of ourselves or too low, but let's have the right mind and attitude in life knowing that God has given the right amount of grace to accomplish His calling in us.
- ACCORDING JAMES 4:6 HOW DOES GOD RESPOND TO PROUD ATTITUDES VERSUS HUMBLE ONES?
- "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” -?