My daily Bible verse intrigued me:
"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. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."
Romans 12:3-5
This is similar to the verse in 1 Corinthians 12:16 that talks about the foot wanting to be the hand or the ear wanting to be the eye. It takes every joint to make a body and the body functions best when we are all "fit jointly together" and fulfilling our nature. Me? I see myself as a little toe. You know, the one that is useful for finding furniture and children's toys in the dark? But enough about me.
A couple things jumped out at me in this bit of Scripture. First I'm sure that "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought" does not mean "think of your self more lowly than you are" nor are we expected to "think of ourselves only high as others see us." I think the true opposite, to think of ourselves with "sober judgement" just means to think of yourself as God sees you and recognize the gifting He has given into your trust.
How do we identify with how God sees us? I suppose that if "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) that is the likely key. There are certainly things in my life that are not yet substance and not yet in evidence. It is a challenge to us all to discover how God's word describes us and then press towards that mark honestly and without fear. Having trouble seeing yourself through God's eyes? Here are a couple of verses to get you started.
"So you who are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:7 ESV
"...And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father" - Revelations 1:6
"... we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and Joint heirs with Christ" Romans 8:16-17
To "think of yourself with sober judgment" is not an easy thing, and for some of us, it may be a fine line to walk. Think too little of yourself and you may not attempt the things God wants you to accomplish. Think too much of yourself and you are in danger of becoming one who is just lost, but leads others astray. "The whole point of what were urging is simply love-love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the faintest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence." (1 Tim 1:6-7 The Message).
There is hope, though. I like what C.S. Lewis said, "We are what we believe we are." Tough, but not impossible.
The other thing that struck me was that although we strive towards the same ultimate goal, the path we take to get there is unique to each of us. We are as diverse as snowflakes. The infinitely diverse shades of humanity which make us unique (just like everyone else :-D) also makes our contribution to the body unique as well. And even though every joint supplies we shouldn't try to figure out if we're an ear, eye, or foot, or toe, etc. The analogy breaks down at that level otherwise it reduces our Christianity to a survey that you might find on FaceBook ("If you were a cheese, what kind of cheese would you be?") Then you'd have people trying to figure out whether they're an eye, ear, spleen, pancreas, or that vein in your forehead that pulses every time "you-know-who" comes around.
How do we determine what gifts have been bestowed to us. The best way to figure out what you are here to do is to just give what you've been given. If you're funny, make people laugh. Good with figures, help someone that struggles. If you bake, bake something (and bring it by my house). Remember, the Rod of Moses became the Rod of God and the only difference was that it was laid down, given as a sacrifice to God, then taken up again.
