No Puff

Scripture for the day: Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself (or herself!) more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Thought for the day: Neither should a person think less highly of him or herself. Paul was adamant about not getting all puffed up when the Lord deigned to use someone for His glory; witness the preceding two verses in which he admonishes his readers to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Perhaps he felt the need to warn these particular folks because they were from Rome, the center of the known world at the time and home to some pretty puffed up people. I don’t know his motivation (other than the Holy Spirit of course) but I do believe the opposite is true as well. We should develop a well-rounded opinion of ourselves as we grow and mature in the Lord. Far too often in the church we’ve promoted a false sense of worthlessness; even self-hatred that contradicts the very grace of God we claim to enjoy in our lives.

“I don’t know why God would ever love someone as despicable as me. I’ve sinned so many times. Why, I’m just a worthless little worm; I can’t believe God really cares about me.” Really? So, what you’re saying is that God, who loved you so much that he sent his one and only Son to rescue you, return you to right relationship with him, and redeem you from the penalty of sin, from hell itself, has a wrong opinion of you? How dare you?!? If the God of the universe thinks you’re worth the life-blood of His Son, who are you to question his judgment? Honestly, I’ve given God plenty of reasons not to love me either, but I know he must see something in me that’s worth loving so I rejoice that he has looked my way and chosen me to be a part of his family.

Self-loathing is a difficult habit to break but I want to share just a couple of ideas that might help. First, I’ve learned over the years to laugh at my own mistakes, handicaps, quirks, personality oddities and, well, a lot of other things. Some wise sage once said, “He who learns to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” How true that is in my own life. I like to tell the following story as an example.

One day I got on an elevator in a rather large hospital on my way to visit a friend. I pressed the button for the floor I wanted and moved to the back of the car as perhaps six or eight others filed in behind me. As always in elevators, we all turned to face the front and watched the lights on the floor indicator as they told us how far we’d risen. Wanting to relax a bit I leaned against the wall at the rear of the car and stared straight ahead with the others. Suddenly a small sign posted just to the upper right side of the doors caught my eye. It read: Please do not lean against the doors while the elevator is in motion.

I chuckled at the sign and said out loud, “What kind of an idiot would lean against the doors of an elevator while the thing is in motion?”

Several people turned to look at the one who’d broken all social protocol by speaking in an elevator and I noticed that most smiled and a couple actually laughed at me. Realizing I must have said something wrong, I looked around to see what was so funny, only to realize there were two sets of doors on that particular elevator. Guess where I was leaning. “Boy do I feel dumb,” was the only thing I could think to say.

Social handicaps, things that make you lean against elevator doors, and other shortcomings that indicate our lack of perfection, ought not hold us back from pursuing the very best the Lord has for us or being our most useful selves in His service. Remember, Moses was “slow of speech” and listed a number of other shortcomings he thought would prohibit his being used effectively to honor and glorify the Lord God. But once he looked at himself through God’s eyes and got his life surrendered to the Spirit of God, he became a true hero of the faith. Gideon, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, David, all the disciples except one, Paul, Timothy, Peter, and countless others who are remembered by no one other than God himself, have done the same.

It’s not about who you are, or who you think you are, or even who others have told you that you are. It’s about who God says you are. And God says you are worth everything to him. Keep that in mind as you look in the mirror and wonder how you got so messed up in the relatively few years you’ve been on the planet.

There’s more the Lord would have me say on this subject but, for today at least, go in the love of God, knowing he thinks more of you than either you or your family or your friends ever could begin to imagine.

Now go take on your world. - Bill