It is evident in scripture that God’s plan is beautiful and perfect. At the end of the sixth day, he sat down and said it was all good. According to Gen 1:31

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.

My simple understanding of this is that I was created beautiful no matter how I look on the outside or feel on the inside. I am also the beloved of God and a representation of His Divine Nature and so I am beautiful. Many times in life we struggle with this because we may not feel physically beautiful or we may be feeling extremely beautiful.

On the days when I am not so confident I remember the words of David below:

Ps 139:13-14

¹³ For you created my inmost being;     you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

I remind myself again and again that I am wonderful.

There is however a flip side. When we have had a series of great achievements success, we may puff up with pride and begin to figure that we are invincible and better than others. Many times something happens soon after that is meant to cut us to size. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about being confident about our looks, abilities and your calling. The thing I am referring to here is thinking too highly of ourselves that is driven by arrogance and pride.

Paul dealt with it in Romans when he said,

Rom 12:3

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.

This is a simple warning to guard our thoughts about ourselves. There are things each of us are good at yet there are things we aren’t good at. Sitting in front of the mirror, should cure most of us of the thoughts of invincibility but often it doesn’t. our minds often block out the ‘bad’ stuff so we convince ourselves that we are perfect or close to perfection anyway. This is so far from the truth and we need to deal with these thoughts.

Arrogance starts in our thought process and then is translated into our lives. It is all good to think and know that we are good at what we do. Yet when we think we are the only ones who can do something so no one will ever catch up with us and we begin to think no one can tell us anything. The harsh reality is that our thoughts can make us lose sight of the big picture and eventually derail us.

It is my simple assertion we must:

• Think highly of ourselves because that is self-confidence
• Be sure of what we are good at and work at it with all our hearts
• Remain aware that there is always room for improvement and growth and pursue it
• Have people around us who are honest with us and will keep us in check.
• Accept correction and input from the people we are accountable to
• Make our lives count

Bottom line is “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.”

Grow in this as I do too and we can share notes sometime soon.