Romans 12:3 (NKJV)

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you…think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

This is a beautiful climax to the thoughts that God is bringing to my heart. Yes, we need sober reflections to honestly evaluate ourselves, and yes, our evaluations must be true and just, stemming from correct thinking, but we must not remove the place of God’s grace extended to us. Each of us has a measure of grace released to us, and this is seen in the measure of faith that we have. Grace cannot go beyond faith and faith is given to us in measures. It is true that we can grow our faith but in whatever level of faith that we find ourselves, that is the measure by which we should evaluate ourselves. Put differently, it is incorrect to evaluate a man based on another man’s faith. If the measure of faith I have received is different from the measure of faith given to another man, why must I measure myself by his standards?

My correct evaluation is connected to my measure of faith. As I look at my life with all sobriety, I need to be asking God one question: “Have You given me faith for this task?” NLT exhorts us with these words, “Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” What this means is that we are evaluating ourselves dishonestly and by a wrong scale if we are not measuring according to the faith God has given us. Each of us has a measure of faith. If our faith is only 1% and we try to assess ourselves by a faith scale of 10%, our measurement is wrong. We need to certainly grow our faith but until we move our scale of faith, our measurement will always be inaccurate if measured by someone else’s faith. This is the truth, and what challenge and liberty it brings to each of us.

“Wow! Thank You Lord for this. This is not only helpful for my peace of mind, it helps me give more space to others who seem to be under-performing by my assessment, but who may be performing optimally by their scale of faith. What a revelation for me Lord. Thank You. Amen.”