“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.”-Romans 12:3
Each and every one of us has blind spots. What am I talking about? On the one hand, a blind spot, according to collinsdictionary.com, is defined this way: “A blind spot is an area in your range of vision that you cannot see properly but which you really should be able to see.” We can all relate, I’m sure. Have you ever been driving your car, and you begin to change lanes, but then you suddenly realize another vehicle is there, so you brake and slow down...But, I’m not actually thinking of this kind of blind spot. What I’m referring to regarding blind spots is more along the lines of this definition, also from collinsdictionary.com, which says: “If you say that someone has a blind spot about something, you mean that they seem to be unable to understand it or to see how important it is.” Vocabulary.com describes it well too: “A subject about which you are ignorant or prejudiced and fail to exercise good judgment.” It's when someone just doesn't totally understand something about themselves or a situation. When it comes to this type of blind spots, ALL OF US have them. None of us can completely see all things with one hundred percent accuracy. The reason is because we are all broken and sinful.
Yet, there is hope for all of us. For if we will humble ourselves before God, if we are willing to acknowledge we truly aren’t perfect, and if we are prepared to recognize that we have strengths and weaknesses, then we are able to much more readily minimize our blind spots. No doubt this is part of why the Apostle Paul was led by God to write this warning, “…Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves…” What an important instruction for every one of us! For we all far too readily in our flesh, either very quickly think we totally know this or that when we don’t…, we think we are great at this or that when we aren’t…, OR we quickly go to the opposite extreme and think we are just awful at this or that when we may not be. What God wants for us is humility. He wants us to see things as they really are. And the reality is, He has given each of us insight in some ways and about some things. God has given each of us gifts to do certain things well. But there’s not a single one of us who knows everything about everything, nor is anyone good at all things. God alone knows everything and is good at everything. Truth be told, each of us stinks at a lot of things. And, many times someone else is better at something than we are.
All this to say, let’s intentionally humble ourselves before God each day. God has a lot to say about humility. For example, Ephesians 4:2 says, “Always be humble and gentle…” Philippians 2:3 says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” James 4:10 puts it like this, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor.” Humility is paramount. As we humble ourselves before God, laying down our pride and worldly thinking, we much more readily see ourselves, others, and all things accurately. In turn, we can then thrive in being about what God wants us to be about, and we can encourage others to be about what God wants them to be about.
Lord, thank You for loving us and gifting each of us uniquely to honor You and help others. We humbly ask that You help us be honest in our assessment of ourselves. We don’t want to think of ourselves more highly than we should or to think too low of ourselves, but rather we want to think of ourselves sensibly. Please help us, God. Be praised through each of us! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Cheer up, friends!
-Scott