Sober Judgement

I was talking with a dear friend, pastor and mentor a few weeks ago. I was talking about future goals and ambitions, and commenting about different things I wanted to do. And in my head, these are truly things I think and believe I’m gifted in and should be doing. In true form my friend says, “well, it’s either that your gift exceeds your platform, or you’re not as gifted as you thought.” We both laughed… A lot.

We all sit at home and go nuts over the American Idol first-round auditions. People who are genuinely terrible will get up and sing a truly awful rendition of Adele, and will absolutely believe this is their thing in life. Their gift. Their jam. We all sit at home and chuckle, because it’s  hilarious. My favorite was this woman one time, and her mom. They both were sold out to the idea that tone-def Tammy was American Idol 2010 in the making.

When they left the show they blamed the judges, the show, the network. “They couldn’t see raw talent if it slapped them in the face.” 

For Tammy, and others, seeing themselves soberly that day was difficult. Perhaps even a non-option.

I laughed heartily at those auditions. But the other day, I started wondering, what if everybody has their own American Idol moment?

Like, what if we have times where we really, really don’t regard ourselves with sober judgement?

Paul writes this in Romans:

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.

In this chapter, Paul is addressing the church as a body. How it operates as a body. How it works as a whole. And the first sentence, right out of the gates is: Watch that ego. You better regard yourself with sober judgement.

He says this when we are regarding ourselves within the body particularly. Like, “thinking you’re better than Bob or Sally is really going to cost you. So… maybe don’t do that.”

He is imploring us to view ourselves honestly.

I think this is hard for a lot of us, because we really do like to think we are doing better than the rest of the body. Like, well, I maybe messed up… but not as messed up as that guy. It’s comforting to know on the winning or losing scale that we are one up. It’s so comforting, that we might even begin to believe falsehoods about ourselves. That we are smarter, more talented, more valued, more awesome than we actually are. If ignorance is bliss, we’d prefer to remain blissfully ignorant in our self-importance.

If failure comes, “it’s those judges” we say. Or the network. Anybody but us.

But I can say from experience that being sober about your abilities and about your insides is a wonderfully freeing thing to do. When you are honest, you get to rest – not in how awesome you are, but how amazing your Savior is. When you are honest, life is not a rat race, but a journey together in grace and service. When you are honest… you’ll have more friends, be more valuable to the body, and probably make a bigger impact.

So, how do you get that honest? Two ways, I believe. First, you have to let the Holy Spirit search you. David prays this in the Psalms – that God would search him, find crappy parts within him, and then lead him in the way everlasting. Secondly, Paul says in Romans that we are to measure ourselves with the faith we have in Jesus. “But rather think of yourself… in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Another translation says “measure yourself by the faith God has given you.”

Instead of chalking myself up to my abilities, skills, achievements or ambitions, it’s best when I measure my life by how much faith I have in the Christ, in His purposes, and in His ambitions in my life. If you are hell-bent on measuring yourself, Paul says, measure your faith. Which, incidentally, it says God has given you… so you can’t take credit for that either.

So, do you have an American Idol mentality?

If so, maybe it’s time to regard yourself soberly. Maybe it’s time to accept yourself for what you are. (You should note here: God already accepted you just as you are.) Instead, maybe measure yourself on how much you bank on God’s promises, how often you cash in on His goodness, and how much faith you have in His workings in your world.

For all of us recovering from or about to recover from our Idol pre-madonna mentality: Grace, peace… and sobriety.