"For the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one" (Rom. 12:3).
Do we really do our best when we claim to do so? Should we assume everyone else is doing his or her best? We can easily overestimate our effort. We talk ourselves into believing we are more sacrificial than we are, as patient and forgiving as we can possibly be, that we are giving all we have and we simply cannot give one more ounce, second, or piece of ourselves.
Dumbing down our best is one way we think more highly of ourselves than we should. Other times, it’s due to comparison. We claim “at least, I’m doing more than so-and-so.” We place ourselves in the 10 percent-who-are-doing-90 percent-of-the-work category, but we don’t have a good attitude about it. If we’re willing to serve sacrificially and abundantly, shouldn’t we do so with a posture of humility?
Thinking too highly of ourselves is a sign of pride, which can manifest as arrogance or self-loathing. Pride puts our own estimation of ourselves – good or bad – above the truth. We might believe we’re doing our best, or stop short because we think we’re less capable or poorly equipped. Pride is never our best.
God distributes a measure of faith to each of us. With that measure comes responsibility and capability. Only God knows exactly what our best is, and you can trust Him to equip, correct, challenge, grow, and humble you when you step out in faith to serve Him.
