Thursday, September 3, 2015

Self-Assesment

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. Romans 12:3
A proper perspective of oneself fosters sound judgment, which  begins with surrender and submission to Jesus. However, an enlarged ego clouds our judgment, like an early morning drive over a fog covered bridge we have a limited, even skewed view of reality. If we speed up, we are destined for an unpleasant outcome. It is when we see our capacity larger than the Lord sees our capacity, that we tend to follow the temptation of trusting in our abilities over faith in Him.
 
Ego forgets God’s word and foolishly embraces counsel contrary to Christ. We make decisions based on our limited emotional view without inviting the wisdom of two or three objective advisors who know our situation and us well. Unsound judgment seeks only the answer it is looking for and ignores wise warnings. Indeed, an enlarged ego entangles itself with insecure thinking and feels the need to be the center of attention.

 Sound judgment does just the opposite. It is fearful of forging advice from friends who do not fear the Lord. Sound judgment sees itself as an instrument of God’s grace. It understands that Christ is the conductor over the orchestra of opportunities vying for our attention in everyday life. This is why faith in the Lord and staying under His authority is the pathway to making wise decisions (See Proverbs 3:5).
 
Jesus complimented a military leader who illustrated his sound judgment with statements like, “I am not worthy”, and “I am a man under authority.” Jesus followed up with a phrase of affirmation, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel” ( See Luke 7:6-9). Sound judgment listens to the truth, understands the truth, applies truth, and is transformed by the truth, all by faith.
Lastly, don’t flagellate your faith with false humility. Paul describes those who try to sound spiritual, but ironically are prideful in their thinking, “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions” (See Colossians 2:18). They talk a lot about God, but they do little for God. Thinking too lowly of oneself is as unhealthy as thinking too highly of oneself.
 
Instead, see yourself as Christ sees you, forgiven and forever His child. You have nothing to prove when you rest in Him. You can be confident that you are Christ’s and you are free from the guilt of sin. Appropriate His grace by faith and He will give you sound judgment.  Motivated by grace, you will instinctively invite input from others and act accordingly. Sound judgment surrenders to Christ and submits to authority. By God’s grace have a modest self-assessment of your gifts and abilities.

Our prayer:  Holy Spirit search us and reveal our motives and intentions that we might align them with God's will and continually be submitted to His guidance and authority daily.  In Jesus name amen.
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Pastor Todd A. Brown
First Baptist of Chesterbrook
1740 Kirby Rd.  Mclean Va. 22101
Vision:" Disciples Making a Kingdom Impact"
Mission: Exalting, Evangelizing, Equipping, and Encouraging every soul in Christ
Listen to "Life Notes" & "Kingdom Impact with Pastor Brown
Mon-Fri at noon and Sundays at 9am and Wednesdays at 9pm on WBGRonline.com
www.fbcc-va.org

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