April 23, 2010

Evaluate Yourself

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:3-8 (NLT)

Reflection

Almost all of us either overestimate or underestimate ourselves. But I think that most of us underestimate ourselves. In fact it is probably axiomatic in psychology that those who appear to have an inflated view of themselves are probably overcompensating for a poor view of themselves.

How then can we obtain a sober view of ourselves? The Bible teaches that it comes through humility which is neither thinking too much of oneself, nor thinking too little of oneself, rather it is not thinking of oneself at all.

So, when do you tend to not think of yourself? I think it happens when serving, and serving happily. The ability to serve within one’s Spiritual gifts, Heart passion, Abilities, Personality and Experiences (SHAPE) leads to selflessness, other centeredness, maturity, and it’s fun! I GET TO teach you every Sunday!. It’s my spiritual gift, this passion is in my heart, I have some ability, I’m wired for it, and I was trained and employed as a teacher. This all adds up to my loving my job.

It is true that to be compensated to work in my “SHAPE” is a luxury, but it is also true that EVERYOONE can find a way to serve God according to their SHAPE. Above is a representative (not exhaustive) list of innate abilities which God gives and which, when animated by the Holy Spirit, will give you joy and effectiveness in serving God. Which one may you have? Use it, experiement, jump in and serve someone. Yes, it may be difficult, inconvenient and just plain hard. But so it happiness. Serving, joy, happness, and selflessness are all hard. Self focus is easy, but it’s ultimately a most certain path to misery.

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