“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” Romans 12:3 NIV.
You are an original, crafted to walk in humility.
My thoughts and comments today are about “a healthy balance.”
Life requires balance. Balance is dynamic, not static, continually requiring subtle, changing adjustments to a present reality. Balance is learned through practice and experience. Observe a toddler’s first attempts to walk. Dynamic balance shifts your weight naturally from one foot to the other. Consider any person trying to walk whose equilibrium is impaired, possibly from excessive alcohol, medication, or a health problem.
Walking is natural yet anything but simple. Intricate processes are rapidly and constantly performed in the brain and muscles in the simplest act of walking. Every step requires an immediate adjustment to your balance. Each foot shifts the center of gravity ever so slightly from one side to the other, and the rest of the body has to anticipate and accurately adjust. Since it happens so naturally, you take it for granted unless something happens to impair your ability to do so.
As in the natural, the principle is true in the spiritual. Spiritual balance intrigues me. Balance is not equal parts of differing things, as some suppose. Like a recipe, dynamic balance is, “the right things, in the right measure, at the right time.” Spiritual life requires both a confidence in your originality and a sense of humility. Your walk in Christ necessitates that you understand the wonderful need for both, knowing how and when to walk in humility before others, and certainly before God at all times, and also how and when to walk in the understanding of the fullness and uniqueness of who you are in Christ. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” See Colossians 1:25-29 NIV.
You are an original, uniquely crafted by the genius of God. Read Ephesians 2:7-10 NLT. In some ways, you are one of a kind. That was never meant for your pride, but always and only for the glory of your Creator. In other ways, you are not so different from every other person. You have every reason to walk in true humility. Apart from God’s grace and gifts to you, of what can you boast? Blending those two realities and balancing the time and need for each is the challenge that you must master to achieve the greater success.
You have seen some example of the worst of either of those. A person can be so impressed with themselves that they are unenjoyable to be around, if not unbearable. Another may be unduly self-deprecating that they make you uncomfortable while excusing themselves from expectation or effort. Either becomes an unhealthy imbalance. The devil whispers that you are good for little or nothing at all. God declares you are made in His image and live in His pleasure. “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:13-18. NIV.
The Bible provides practical counsel for a Godly life of healthy, dynamic balance. “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 measure of faith God has given you.” Romans 12:3 NIV. How beautifully and practically stated. Think of yourself no more highly than you “ought to think.” That would be pride. But more importantly, think of yourself no less highly than you “ought to think,” according to the grace of God and the gift of God within you. That is humility.
Today, I pray for you to enjoy who you are in Christ and fully credit God Who made you.
