A Word to The Crybabies

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."  -Romans 12:3

"Thinking more highly than one should," in this context, covers more than just being prideful. There are some who regard themselves as victims of what God gives them to deal with (recent experience), and others who hold tightly to negative self-esteem for no reason. They tend to think of their selves so much that the negativity, or their endurance, becomes a focal point of their life whereas the focal point ought to be God being glorified.

To be sober means to think straight and rightly. The writer means for us to think of ourselves with fairness and quietness of mind. Don't add drama to how we understand ourselves or what we are going through. We must not expend excessive energy to diminish our value to our selves, or to prove/justify being the victims of our hardships. Additionally, we should not be so self-centered and proud that we get up on a pedestal for the glory of our suffering to shine. The story isn't all about us: it’s about Jesus.

“More highly than he ought” is equivalent to saying, “more than he ought.” Boasting, complaining, and or just being negative are all wrong: too much attention is on the self. We have to be mindful of how we consider what we're going through. A test from God is not Him being mean to us (victim). It is not Him saying, “look how awful and hopeless you are,” (low self-esteem). It isn't a right to parade how pious we are that we can go through such a horror (prideful). Every experience, happy or hurtful, is an opportunity for us to redirect attention to Jesus. 

When we're sober, we remember that.

Crippled

When leaving church one afternoon, I stopped at the corner saying goodbye to my baby brothers and giving them instructions on how they were getting home. The light changed, but I didn't move until I was sure my brothers understood my instructions. When I turned around and began to cross the street, a jeep full of teenage boys sped just past the crosswalk and stopped really hard! I would understand why if they suffered whiplash the next day (but I prayed that wouldn't happen). They backed behind the cross walk laughing at their mistake. I chuckled too, shaking my head, and kept walking.

I got on my bus safely and thought nothing of the teenage boys recklessness. Yet, as I was nearing my stop, it hit me: if I had begun crossing the street when the light changed, I would have been right in front of that car. That point in the cross walk could have been as far as I would walk ever again.

...

Imagine how close we come to danger. All kinds of danger: mind, body, and spiritually. Instead of actually being hit, we walk right past it chuckling and shaking our heads not realizing that it would have been our hurt. Don't get impatient, God may very well be holding you back from being right in position to be crippled.