SOBER JUDGEMENT
Romans 12:3-8
“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.”
Coming from the idea that our transformation to be one who is holy and pleasing to God is through the path of the renewing of our mind, we must regard Paul’s call for us to think of ourselves with sober judgement as an important step in the process of the renewing of our minds.
Sober can be contrasted with emotional, exaggerated, and presumptuousness that is inconsistent with truth. It is objective and in step with reality and truth.
While we cannot run away from the fact that our personalities and capacities may not encourage us to be sober—for example, we may be emotional, imaginative, or impulsive—they do not preclude us from sober judgement. However, we also need to be aware that if our transformation is through the renewing of our mind then we need to ensure that we educate the mind with godly truths and give the mind greater authority to rule over our bodies.
However, we must note that on this occasion, Paul is calling us to think of ourselves with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith we have been given by God. He is concerned about how we regard ourselves, specifically that we do not think more highly of ourselves than we ought.
There are 3 areas, I think, that are impacted: 1. We must not be arrogant and self-centred; 2. We must see ourselves in service to the good of others (see Philippians 2:3, 4 and also John 13:12-17); and 3. We must not think of ourselves as worthless or useless.
Such a mindset will prepare us well, I believe, to live in accordance to the two great commands that Jesus understands to undergird God’s will as found in his Word.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)