sober judgment

Sometimes it’s no surprise to me that me and my fellow Americans at this point in time have such trouble being spiritually attuned with God. In fact, sometimes I’m amazed that so many of us are doing as well as we are.

When I was an English major in college, we studied a strong thread in American literature called the Great American Adam. Much of what American authors wrote contained a strong, independent person going to a new place to begin a new world. But American Adams didn’t succumb to sin, they created civilization through their indomitable will and strong character. A key attribute was independence, and the willingness to throw off old ways and be confident in ones own rightness.

I’m not sure about the rest of it, but I think the confidence in our own rightness has survived the intervening 241 years intact.

This morning I read this from Romans 12:3 “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.”

To see myself as I truly am is a sort of spiritual gift. It’s human nature, and maybe part of American character, to see myself as better than others, as special. I think my own desires are above rules; I want other people to follow them but I shouldn’t be constrained by them. I’m prepared to resent my neighbors if they don’t conform to my standards. How do I pierce this bubble of my own inflated ego?

I’m not completely sure, but it’s interesting that Paul connects my ability to think of myself with sober judgment to the faith God has distributed to me. This suggest that the closer I walk with God, and the more faith I put in him, the more I am able to see myself clearly, not as the center of the universe but in the context of all of God’s people.

I think that ability more than anything else could revolutionize this country. Another reason to pray for revival.