Romans 12:3 (NKJV)

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly….”

The process of evaluation is through thinking. How I think and what I think about is crucial to how I evaluate myself or others. Where I place myself depends on how I assess myself, and how I assess myself depends on how I think of myself. If I think myself higher than where God has placed me, this is self-elevation, which is foolishness. We know that spiritually, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places which is the highest place we can be; but in the reality of a present life situation, we may still be growing in certain disciplines and we must accept the process of growth. A university student who thinks he’s the president of his country is living in self-deception. He has a deeply faulty thinking, which actually could be early signs of a mental disorder.

But thinking of yourself very lowly is also a fundamental problem. The way you push down and demean yourself could make you feel inferior, incapable and irrelevant in the affairs of God and of men. God did not make us weak worms who have no relevance to society and who cannot change their world. We are strong and mighty through Christ. Living below the evaluation of God is a crime against the grace of God. It’s all in the mind. The way you see yourself is all in your thinking. That’s why the bible says, “think soberly.” It’s in the practice of sober reflection and personal evaluation vis our practical life performance and what God says about us, that we come out with a true heaven approved evaluation of where we are in the journey of life. Sobriety in thinking is essential of good mental health as well as correct personal evaluation. In the words of Paul, this exhortation was for “everyone.” I am included in this call to sobriety in thinking.

“Lord, please keep taking me to the place of sober reflection that I may see myself through Your eyes, and only thereby begin to evaluate myself from Your perspective. In Jesus name. Amen.”