Romans 12:3-8
Verse 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 faith God has distributed to each of you.
The world tells us we can’t love others without being able to love ourselves first, but we have learned the last few days how it is truer that we can’t love others without being able to love God as He has commanded us to. Paul knew the danger of loving ourselves too much and how that actually gets in the way of loving others.
In this chapter, which stands as a manual to growing deeper in our faith walk, Paul told the believers of Rome they needed to stop thinking like their contemporaries and get their hearts and actions aligned with the Lord. When we follow society it is easy to allow the standards and ways of the world to dictate our standards and ways and sometimes that draws us to think more about ourselves than God or His people.
Paul’s first reminder is that we shouldn’t think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. This is definitely one of those “easier said than done” situations in life. Even if we never say the words, more than likely we have all thought the world would be better if everyone was more like us. If everyone had the personal drive we do, there would be no lazy people or if more people we like us with a sense of peace and rest, there wouldn’t be as much stress in people’s lives or on their families. Yeah, because we are so perfect.
But how do we learn to think of ourselves in a more sober light? It requires us admitting the truth to ourselves, we aren’t all we want to think we are. Admitting our weaknesses as well as our strengths is the only way to have a true assessment of ourselves. Without this understanding we will not realize how unloving we can be towards others. This is how we come to love others more than ourselves, learning to think about how what we are going to do or say could be taken by the other person and then deciding if it still needs to be said and done.
Making It Personal
Are you more intentional about loving yourself or loving others? What area of your life have you been lying to yourself about? How can you learn to love others first?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you love yourself or others first? Why would Jesus want you to love others more than yourself? How can you be better at putting others interests before your own?
Closing Prayer
Father, we know it is so easy to focus on ourselves because we are often the easiest for ourselves to love. Give us Your heart for others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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