1)   

Humble yourselves…’ – How? 

Let’s consider firstly how we are to view ourselves.

 

A right view of yourself

“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 judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Romans 12v3

 

“I say to every one of you….” -  This is obviously something we all need to hear!

 

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought” – The boxer, Chris Eubank, once made the massive claim: “I am a living legend.  If you look up legend in a dictionary you will see a picture of me!”  Now there is no doubt that Chris Eubank was a great boxer, but I think we would all agree that he has a rather high opinion of himself!! 

 

Paul is saying here in Romans, do not overrate yourself, do not evaluate yourself based on your feelings or achievements or circumstances at any given point.  Pride can take one of two forms.  Either,

1. You put yourself up  (you brag) or

2. You put yourself down

 

Remember the definition from last week - “Humility …. means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.”  So if we are not to think of ourselves too highly, but we are not to have too low an opinion of ourselves either, how then are we to think of ourselves?

 

“Think of yourself with sober judgement” – Instead of super thoughts of self, there is to be sober thoughts of self.  The best way to look at ourselves is to consider how God sees us.  Humility is accepting ourselves as we really are before God.

 

We need to remind ourselves firstly that we are sinners, every one of us and we deserve to be punished.  There is nothing we can do to help ourselves out of this position and therefore have no reason to be proud of ourselves. 

 

Secondly, we must think with “the measure of faith that God has given you” - God created the universe and everything in it, including you!  He gave you life and He has saved you from the power of sin and the penalty of sin.  Only He deserves the glory!  When we allow pride into our lives we begin to consider ourselves the centre of the universe and rob God of the glory that’s rightfully His. 

 

God has also given you many gifts, including your ability to play your sport.  If you play well, it is not humility to say that you play badly.  Humility is to use your ability with thanks and joy, to serve others and to point people to Christ.   

 

Next time you are praised or honoured for your performance, turn that praise back to the only one who deserves the glory!!