Romans 12:3 (ESV)

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

I was in my mid-teens when I began my undergraduate journey at a prestigious university in the Philippines. I didn’t know what was waiting for me. To be honest, I was just playing it all by ear. I was winging it. School works, dorm chores, the social scene. I found myself trying to juggle everything.

No one can quite prepare you for the environment of being amongst the cream of the crop. Different personalities, different characters, and different backgrounds were my everyday. We all just wanted to be educated and to be educated well. But, one thing was prominent in that university: everyone had something to be proud of.

I write to you now as remnants of the past have been instilled upon me. Remnants of how the Lord taught me a very important characteristic every believer should have. 

And that is humility. 

I write this to you, fully aware and hopefully not conceited– so as to defeat the purpose of the whole piece. I write this to you because if you find yourself exalting your own, God has His way of humbling you down– and maybe this is me preparing you for such a season.

What humility is not

Humility is not looking down on yourself. It is not dwelling on self-pity.

Romans 12:3

“…but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

We are all capable of knowing our own limitations, alongside our capabilities. Believing in yourself is not a crime. In fact, we are called to believe in ourselves as God believes in us. And He is our number one fan. You must not disqualify yourself, when the Lord has clearly called and qualified you. Humility is not dwelling in self-pity.

There is balance

At one end, we are to think that God is gracious. At one end, we must keep in mind that He is gracious enough to equip us to do the work that He has called us. At both ends, we must still anchor the truth of our identity on who God is and who He says we are.

And He says you are valuable not because of your works or merit, but because of the inherent value God has placed in you. It is only by the grace of God, through Christ Jesus, that we get to experience the fullness of this value.

When have you become arrogant?

Romans 12:4-5 (ESV)

“For as in one body we have many members,and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Just as with any other trait, being humble has direct implications to your surrounding world. This is true as being arrogant, for example, can underlyingly mean that you’re demeaning those around you by not “rising to your standards”. It’s like saying that people around you are less of a human being just because they’re not the same as you.

Each must think with sober judgement by thinking that not all members in the body of Christ all have the same function.

So, what matters?

Matthew 25:14-30 talks about the parable of the talents. What matters is what we do with what we have. To some, the Lord gave 5. To some, the Lord gave 2. At the end of the day, it’s about stewardship and being faithful with what the Lord has given us.

Again, does this mean that we deserve what we were given? In the light of the Gospel and the Word of God, it is all by grace.

May we find it in our hearts to remain humble. And with sober judgement, live humbly before the Lord and others.

I am now in my mid-20s and I can’t help but be grateful to God for allowing me to undergo what I did. 

It is, indeed, all by His grace. And His grace alone.