Romans 12:3
[3] 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.
According to the first two verses of this chapter, as our minds our renewed
and we are transformed, we begin to discern God’s will. The verses that follow
reveal God’s will. It is to walk humbly in love. Transformation begins with how
we see ourselves. We are to think “sober judgment . . . according to the
measure of faith that God has assigned.” God does not say that Christians
should be self-deprecating, always putting themselves down. The balance in this
passage is important. We should have an accurate assessment of our gifts and
abilities in line with how God has designed and gifted us.
That is interesting. In 1 Corinthians when Paul talks about gifting he talks
about recognizing the gifts of others. Here he talks about recognizing your own
gifting, but never forgetting that others are gifted differently. We are not to
over-emphasize our gifting. Romans 12:4-5 point out,
[4] For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not
all have the same function, [5] so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members one of another.
It is common for those of one gifting to consider those who do not have the
same passion as being unspiritual, or not caring about things that are
important. We need to remember that each believer is gifted differently and
therefore will be passionate about different things. If our gifting is teaching,
we wonder why more people don’t step up to teach. We conclude, people are just not
committed. If our gift is service, we wonder why more people don’t step up to
serve. We assume that people just don’t care like we do. But that is exactly what
Paul warned us about. Humility and honest self-assessment mean that we don’t
place our gifting and passion above others. We don’t scold or criticize others
for not seeing the value of our passion. Rather, we exercise our gifts in zeal
and mercy with cheerfulness and humility.
[6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let
us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in our
serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8] the one who exhorts, in his
exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with
zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Exercise your gifting. Pursue your Spirit led passion. Engage in your
calling. But celebrate those who serve differently. Some are called to preach,
some to serve, some to teach, some to exhort, some to give, some to lead. This
is not an exhaustive list of gifts. Rather they are a sampling of gifts
intended to exemplify what Paul is saying. Unity comes not in everyone have the
same vision or passion. Unity comes in exercising our gifting in cheerfulness,
celebrating the truth that others in our group are gifted differently than us. We
need to be okay with that rather than simply grouping together with those of
like passion. That’s what it means to “Let love be genuine” (Rom. 12:9).
When you put a puzzle together, you might separate the pieces dividing them up by sky, grass, edges, etc. But the end goal is not leave them separated. Your goal is to put each distinct piece together with the others in such a way that they reveal a beautiful picture in the end. That is how God intends us to use our different gifts, passions, and abilities. We are the church as it is intended to be when we celebrate our differences and humbly exercise our gifting.
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