"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 measure of faith God has given you." - Romans 12:3 If you read my first posting you'll think that I am a one trick pony, because I am about to talk a whole lot more about knowing who we are. I am convinced that this is important stuff. The gap between what God wants to accomplish through us and what actually gets done comes partly in us not knowing who we are (another part is disobedience). I think the heart of the problem lies in the fact that we think of our human nature as greater than it truly is and we think of our spiritual nature as less than it is. In other words we tend to be self-reliant instead of God reliant. There are four very important things that the bible says when it talks about knowing ourselves. 1. We tend to think of ourselves more highly then we really are. "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." 2. In Christ, we are greater than what our humanness makes us. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." - 1 Peter 2:9 3. Anything that we can claim to be is given to us by God. "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." - Ephesians 4:7 4. It is in our weakness that God's power and strength comes. "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9 It is vital that we recognize our human weakness and allow God's strength and power to work through us. Paul writes in Philippians 4:13 that, " I can do everything through him who gives me strength." So, how do we get at this? I believe the answer is found in having a humble heart. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:5-8) So let's recognize who we really are, get out of God's way and serve Him with a humble heart. Kevin. Chaplain, HSMM Windsor __________________________________________ |
| Know Yourself - Redux |
| "Once Again" |
| “All scripture passages are NIV unless otherwise noted.” |
| Heaven's Saints M/M Windsor Ontario Canada |
| JESUS IS LORD |
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