Think of yourself rightly
Paul on sober self-assessment
Paul gives a precise instruction about self-image: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think with sober judgment. Humility, he clarifies, is not thinking badly of yourself; it is thinking accurately about yourself — neither inflated nor falsely small.
He warns elsewhere of the trap on one side: if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. True humility is not self-loathing or false modesty; it is seeing yourself as you actually are, with your gifts and your limits both in view, by God's measure rather than your ego's.
“Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but think reasonably.”
— Paul, to the Romans — Romans 12:3 (WEB)
See yourself accurately — neither inflated nor falsely small. Sober self-assessment, by God's measure, is a mark of real humility.
“For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
Paul defines humility as accurate self-assessment, not self-loathing. A leader formed here sees his gifts and limits clearly, by God's measure rather than his ego's. He resists both inflation and false modesty. The inner work is thinking about yourself with sober judgment.
Assess yourself and your abilities honestly, owning both strengths and limits. Resist the inflation of pride and the false humility that denies your gifts. Help your team see themselves soberly, neither over- nor under-estimating. Make accurate self-knowledge a basis for how you deploy yourself and others.
Leaders mistake false modesty for humility, or swing to inflated self-importance, missing that real humility is accurate self-assessment. The blind spot is misjudging yourself in either direction and calling it humility.
Write an honest, sober assessment of one of your abilities — neither inflated nor falsely diminished. This week, lead from that accurate self-knowledge rather than your ego's estimate.
We tend to swing between inflated self-importance and false self-deprecation, and call the second one humility. Paul says real humility is neither — it is sober, accurate self-assessment, seeing your gifts and limits clearly by God's measure.
Are you seeing yourself accurately right now — neither thinking more highly of yourself than you ought, nor pretending to be less than God made you?