Tuesday July 7, 2015

Read: Romans 12:3, Philippians 2:1-11

Our modern society is obsessed with the concept of self-esteem. Popular psychology has sought to ascribe all sorts of problems to issues of low self-esteem. Issues like depression, violence, addictions and eating disorders have all been linked to low self esteem. Parents and teachers are warned against damaging the self esteem of the children under their care. To have a low self-esteem is considered unhealthy, whereas having a high self-esteem is applauded. This raises an interesting question for believers. How do we think about ourselves?

Here in Romans 12 Paul counters modern culture by describing how we should think of ourselves. He writes: “do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment”. Contrary to western culture, which encourages us to have a high view of ourselves, Paul encourages us not to think of ourselves too highly. We are not to think of ourselves proudly, building ourselves up as if we are the best thing since sliced bread. We are instead to think of ourselves humbly.

But Paul is not telling us to go to the other extreme either. He exhorts us to think of ourselves with ‘sober judgment’. We are to think of ourselves carefully and accurately. We are to think of ourselves with the kind of care and accuracy of a judge rendering his verdict. True humility is not putting ourselves down and beating ourselves up. True humility is thinking of ourselves accurately, remembering our place before God and His grace and love to us.

The ultimate example of this kind of humility is Jesus Christ Himself. In Philippians 2 Paul exhorts the believers to consider other believers better than themselves out of humility and to put the needs of others before themselves. We are to have the attitude of Jesus Himself who willingly humbled himself to serve us, to suffer for us and to die for us. Think about that for the moment. God the Son Himself, the one who is worthy of endless praise and honour, the one who created the universe by His word and who sustains the universe by that same word (Hebrews 1:1-3) willingly became a man to come and serve His creatures. Not only that but to serve us while we were in active and blatant rebellion against Him.

This kind of true humility and accurate thinking of ourselves should result in us lovingly serving others. We think of others as greater than ourselves and willingly put their needs before our own. This looks like serving others before ourselves. This looks like we are not seeking honour for ourselves but giving it to others. This looks like we are willingly giving of ourselves for other believers. We are not to be obsessed with self esteem. Instead we are to humbly serve others.

Prayer:

Using today’s passage and the reading notes spend time in prayer.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Pray for the work of Glenvale and Harristown Public Schools Chaplaincy. Ask the Lord to open doors for the chaplains to serve both students and staff and that opportunities for Christian witness might arise.

· Pray that God would continue to provide chaplaincy funding for all schools in need.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What do you think it looks like practically to think of yourself not too highly and not too lowly but accurately?

2. How do you think you can cultivate this kind of humility in your life?

3. What would you say to a believer who is worried that if they humbly serve others then they will be taken advantage of?