Today's Passage - Romans 12:3

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 12:3   "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."   The Bible says that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  No matter how talented and knowledgeable you are and everyone loves you, God cannot use you unless you are humble before God and men.  Paul said that we must "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought ", which is what I found to be a major weakness of human nature.  For example, when we have some small achievement, we'd be proud of ourselves, and thus we'd walk and talk differently.  When others praise us, we'd tell them that we're not worthy, but we feel ecstatic inside.  A once popular American country music song says: "Lord, it's too hard for me to learn to be humble, because when I look in the mirror every day I really like what I see."  This song was popular because that's exactly how a lot of people really felt.  It is truly difficulty to learn to be humble from deep down inside.  When we only look ourselves, we think we are really awesome, but when we turn around and look at God, we'd realized that we are next to nothing.  The more we know God, the more we would see that before Him we are merely sinners who are not worthy of His grace.    When Paul was writing the book of 1 Corinthians, he said he was the least of the disciples.  Later in his life, in the book of Ephesians, he wrote that he was less than the least of the saints, suddenly he depicted himself even smaller than before.  Before he passed away, in the Book of 1 Timothy, Paul wrote that he was the head of the sinners and the greatest sinner of all.  Apparently, the more he knew about God's grace, the more he realized that he was unworthy, and he clearly understood that if it wasn't for the grace of God he wouldn't be able to do anything.  Being humble doesn't mean that we don't do anything; some people think that they are humble if they don't do anything and let others do everything, but that's really being irresponsible.  Paul said that not only should we recognize our own unworthiness and weakness, but we must "think of yourself with sober judgment.""Sober judgment" is not about meeting a human expectation, but we must see ourselves from the eyes of God rather than the eyes of other people.  We need to come before God and find out exactly what His will is for us.   If we read on we would realize that what Paul described as grace of God here is actually the gifts of the Spirit.  God has given each believer different spiritual gifts, and it is His will for us to serve Him with these gifts.  Brothers and sisters, do see all the grace that God has given and the work He has done on you?  Don't think of ourselves more highly than we really are, for we must humble ourselves before God.    Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please give a humble and soft heart so that we can see all the grace and mercy you have given us.  Let us not be boastful, but just serve you and serve people with the heart of a servant, and we need the Spirit of the Lord to help us.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!