July 3, 2025 • 25 mins
Trapped between thinking too highly of yourself and not highly enough? You're not alone. This profound spiritual tension affects how we function within God's Kingdom and impacts everyone around us.
The Apostle Paul's instruction to think of ourselves "with sober judgment" (Romans 12:3) provides a crucial navigational tool for believers. When our self-perception becomes inflated, we develop entitled attitudes that use people and love things. Conversely, when we undervalue ourselves, we shirk God-given responsibilities that could benefit others, causing a different kind of harm. Both extremes damage the body of Christ and hinder Kingdom advancement.
Looking at biblical meditation—not as Eastern mysticism but as the purposeful rumination on truth like a cow chewing its cud—helps us develop this balanced self-perception. The Kingdom of God values interdependence, recognizing that visible ministries (like hands) and invisible ones (like hearts) are equally essential. The shipbuilding metaphor illustrates this beautifully: the less-glamorous "helps" ministries function like iron bands holding wooden ships together—without them, the vessel can't float.
Most powerfully, acknowledging our need for others isn't weakness but meekness—strength under control. Like a trained war horse that protects rather than tramples its fallen rider, meekness channels power through submission. As we navigate the spiritual battles of our time (comparable to the bloody period between D-Day and V-E Day in WWII), this balanced self-understanding becomes crucial to our effectiveness in God's advancing Kingdom.
What might change in your relationships and ministry if you embraced this "sober judgment" about yourself? Reach out to us at lifeonthefire@gmail.com—we'd love to hear your thoughts and questions as you process these kingdom principles.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
We've been focusing on the values, practices and
priorities found in the kingdomof God in the past few podcast
episodes and what we mean by thevalues, practices and
priorities of God's kingdom.
(00:23):
We're referring to the culture.
What makes up the culture ofGod's kingdom.
Much like we're born into aculture, in whatever part of the
world you were naturally borninto whether it's in Africa, in
(00:46):
Asia, europe, canada, mexico,america, the United States,
whatever country you were bornthere are priorities that make
up your culture.
And, much like fish are born inwater, people are born into a
(01:18):
culture.
People are born into a cultureand fish really don't stop and
think about the fact that theyare living in water.
Right, they just live in it.
And the same goes for peoplethat we are born into a culture,
(01:44):
but we really don't think aboutit that much.
We just live in it.
And the kingdom of God is areal kingdom that has within it
a real culture.
And his kingdom, god's kingdom,is an eternal kingdom.
(02:05):
In fact, his kingdom is thekingdom that is going to rule
and reign forever.
Right now, we're in a time inwhich there is a spiritual clash
going on.
There's a clash of kingdoms, ifyou will.
Going on.
(02:39):
There's a clash of are part ofthat battle.
There are things that are goingon that really have serious
implications, much like in WorldWar II, where the victory was
(03:02):
secure in World War II, inwhat's known as D-Day, when
Normandy was taken and thevictory over the enemy was
secure.
But between D-Day and theconclusion of the war, world War
(03:25):
II, v-e Day, there were some ofthe bloodiest battles that took
place and real casualties tookplace during that period of time
.
And much the same goes for whathas taken place when Jesus died
(03:45):
on the cross.
That being, compared to D-Day,the victory was and is secure.
But between that and his comingagain, which would be
(04:06):
considered VE Day, there aresome real battles going on, and
some of them are the bloodiestbattles that we've seen thus far
.
And so we've been focusing inon the values, as I said, the
practices and priorities.
(04:27):
But we're going to take a briefcaveat, and there are some
things that have been justruminating.
They've been going around andaround in my heart and mind.
I've been meditating on them,and funny thing about that word,
meditate, right, it's reallynot just a person sitting in a
(04:50):
lotus position with their fingerand their thumb forming a
circle and chanting the word OMas a form of meditation, but
biblical meditation.
Or what?
As a form of meditation?
But biblical meditation?
Or what we find in Scripturewhen the word meditation is used
(05:14):
, is actually best portrayed inhow a cow digests its food.
It chews its cud.
It'll chew the first bite offood, swallow it and then it'll
(05:35):
go through a process ofassimilation and chew on that
cud again, and we'll do thatseveral times until it is fully
assimilated into the cow's body.
(05:56):
It ruminates or, if you will,it meditates.
It chews the cud, and sothere's been something that has
been going on in my heart andmind, as I said, for quite some
time, and I'd like to share itwith you because I think it's
(06:18):
pertinent to some of you who arelistening, and we've made a
commitment a while back on thispodcast that we're not really
concerned about or focused onthe number of people that are
(06:38):
listening at one time.
We're not primarily focused ondemographics or on marketing and
on numbers and things that goalong with that, even though in
business those are points thatare important points of
consideration, but the lord gaveus instruction a few years ago
(07:04):
not to do that.
In fact, he said the mostimportant number to be concerned
about first and foremost washim and then one other
individual.
If one other individuallistening receives something
(07:29):
that's beneficial excuse me thatcan bring about inspiration,
revelation and application.
If something can be applied toyour life one person it is a
successful podcast episode, and,faithfully, each episode we've
(07:58):
had that experience where atleast one person has benefited
from what's been communicated,and that one person might just
be you in this episode, and wefound out that there's actually
more than just one.
(08:18):
Oftentimes that really isimpacted, and we've been
fortunate enough to see thingscommunicated on all the
continents in over 100 nations,and 1,300 plus cities around the
world tune into this particularpodcast, but it wouldn't be a
(08:47):
success if a bunch of peoplejust tuned in and were
entertained and lives weren'ttransformed.
However, if one life isimpacted, it's a success.
It's a success, and so we thankGod for what he's doing and how
(09:10):
he's doing it.
And the message that I'mlooking to convey to you today
concerns us and how we view whowe are.
It's important for us to have acorrect view of who we are,
(09:36):
because if a person has a viewof themselves that is inaccurate
, things in your life don't gowell.
If a person thinks ofthemselves too high, they're
just too high on themselves.
You end up hurting peopleBecause you use people and you
(10:07):
tend to love things instead ofusing things and loving people
Because your attitude aboutyourself is one of entitlement.
Too much privilege without theproper balancing responsibility
(10:31):
leads to that sense ofentitlement, and many of us have
seen the real caricaturizationof entitlement.
When we look at the generationright now that is coming of age,
(10:57):
that is coming of age, thesense of entitlement can be very
, very disconcerting.
People tend to want thingswithout paying the price of
(11:18):
having them.
It's like you owe me attitude.
And when that takes place, whenthere's too much privilege and
not enough responsibility,people tend to abuse people in
(11:41):
their relationships because theinflated ego overestimates their
impact and in order to get whatthey want, they tend to hurt
(12:05):
people in order to get what theywant.
They tend to hurt people inorder to get things.
Also, on the other hand, if wethink too little of ourselves,
we can actually hurt people,because sometimes we have the
responsibility of fulfilling arole and with that comes a
(12:30):
privilege to do it, but we saythings like, well, I'm just not
worthy, and we might not say itout loud, but we tend to take a
backseat role instead ofstepping up and fulfilling the
(12:58):
purpose that God has for yourlife, for our life.
In Romans, chapter 12, excuseme, in Romans, chapter 12, verse
3, the Apostle Paul says thisto a group of people he's
(13:22):
writing to in Rome.
But the Spirit of God is sayingit to us today as well, and
it's this For, by the gracegiven me, I say to every one of
you do not think of yourselfmore highly than you ought to
(13:46):
think, but rather think ofyourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the faith Godhas distributed to each of you,
soberly, soberly.
Now, paul's emphasizing not tothink too high, but with that,
(14:11):
there's also the understandingthat it's important for us not
to think too low but to thinksoberly, because we each have a
purpose to fulfill.
That's significant, and ifyou're not fulfilling it because
(14:34):
you think too low of yourself,we actually hurt people by not
fulfilling our role.
But if we think too highly ofourselves, we fail to associate
with people that we consider tobe lower than ourselves and we
(14:54):
actually hurt those people bymistreating them and devaluing
who they are.
James said that God has chosenthe poor of this world to be
rich in faith, and sometimespeople that are financially not
(15:18):
as well off as we are can belabeled as lesser, when in all
reality, they carry a greaterfaith, a faith that we can
benefit from as we associatewith them.
If we have material goods toshare, they can benefit from
(15:43):
those that we can give to themand they can give to us the
benefit of the faith that theyhave.
And so, in working together, wesee things accomplished in the
kingdom of God.
We're living in a time right nowwhere it's very important for
(16:06):
us to think about ourselvescorrectly or, as the Apostle
Paul said, in a sober way,meaning clear-minded.
You know, when you'reinebriated, oftentimes you can
have lofty thoughts or you canget really depressed.
(16:26):
If you're inebriated and thinkvery low about life, nobody
knows the trouble that you havementality, or look how great I
am, people just don't appreciatehow great I am.
But soberly, where we thinkabout things accurately and we
(16:57):
need the help of God to do thatand we need the help of God to
do that, and when we functionthat way, unique things take
place.
In the construct of the body ofChrist, we begin to love each
other on a level that issupernatural, because we can see
(17:17):
things with a clear mind, witha clear heart, and we can
function accordingly.
If you have the opportunity ofdoing great things, don't
pretend that you can't in yourattempt to be humble, that you
(17:38):
can't in your attempt to behumble, because false humility
is nothing more than pridewearing a different set of
clothes.
And if you have something thatis not a very visible purpose
(17:59):
but more of a behind-the-scenescalling, don't think that it's
not important, because it isBack in the day when ships were
being built from wood.
(18:23):
From wood, the shipbuilderswould take iron bands and they
would put them around the shipto keep the boards together.
And the name that was used forthose iron bands they were
called helps.
It's interesting.
(18:46):
Someone who has the gift orministry of helps, of helping
out, doesn't seem very flashy,but without it the ship can't
float.
You have all the boards in theworld, but if they aren't held
(19:06):
together in a proper way, theywon't be buoyant and they won't
carry things like a ship does.
So it's important for us tothink soberly and the fact that
we need each other.
(19:27):
In many of our cultures thenotion of expressing the fact
that you have a need is lookeddown upon.
But in the kingdom of God, thefact that we need each other is
actually a value, the fact thatwe need those who are visible in
(19:58):
their expression, like a handis visible, but we also need
those who are behind the scenes,like a heart.
You can't see the heart, butwithout a heart the body doesn't
function.
So my encouragement is to be ina place where we can appreciate
(20:27):
how God has made us and how weblend together and how we need
each other, and to express thatis not a sign of weakness, it's
a sign of meekness.
That is not a sign of weakness,that's a sign of meekness, and
(20:53):
meekness is a high quality.
In the kingdom of God, those whoare meek is that which is
really tied to the wordobedience or strength under
control.
It's a picture of a war horsewho, when the rider falls off
(21:18):
the horse, will stop becauseit's a meek horse, will stop
because it's a meek horse.
It is strength under control,even though that horse has the
ability to trample the riderBecause it's meek or it's been
(21:39):
meeked.
It's gone through the processof becoming meek.
It stands over the rider.
It's gone through the processof becoming meek.
It stands over the rider untilthe rider can get back on it.
It will even protect the riderfrom the arrows and the
(22:00):
advancement of the enemy at itsown risk, risking its own life A
meek horse.
So expressing the fact that weneed each other is not weakness,
it's meekness, and when we seea group of people that are meek,
(22:24):
power under control, that's asignificant force to be dealt
with.
As the kingdom of God advances,we need people who are
sober-minded and meek.
Blessed are the meek, for theyWill inherit the earth.
(22:52):
Let's pray, father, thank youFor your words of encouragement,
and I ask that you would takethese thoughts today and you'd
broadcast them, like the sowerwho sows seed, broadcasting the
(23:16):
seed, and that it would fall onhearts and minds that are
prepared to receive this andthat it would bear good fruit.
It would be used to plant andto water.
(23:41):
Holy Spirit, I honor you, lordJesus.
We declare your greatness, yoursupremacy, and we bow before
you and we offer ourselves toyou that you would consume us
with your mind so we'd seethings accurately and function
(24:04):
accordingly, and we declarethese things to be so in your
name and we say amen.
We see things accurately andfunction accordingly, and we
declare these things to be.
So in your name, and we sayamen, amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atliferonthefire, at gmailcom, or
(24:25):
type in liferonthefire and lookus up on the web.
We'd love to hear from you.
In the meantime, god bless you,adios amigos.
We've been focusing on the values, practices and
priorities found in the kingdomof God in the past few podcast
episodes and what we mean by thevalues, practices and
priorities of God's kingdom.
(00:23):
We're referring to the culture.
What makes up the culture ofGod's kingdom.
Much like we're born into aculture, in whatever part of the
world you were naturally borninto whether it's in Africa, in
(00:46):
Asia, europe, canada, mexico,america, the United States,
whatever country you were bornthere are priorities that make
up your culture.
And, much like fish are born inwater, people are born into a
(01:18):
culture.
People are born into a cultureand fish really don't stop and
think about the fact that theyare living in water.
Right, they just live in it.
And the same goes for peoplethat we are born into a culture,
(01:44):
but we really don't think aboutit that much.
We just live in it.
And the kingdom of God is areal kingdom that has within it
a real culture.
And his kingdom, god's kingdom,is an eternal kingdom.
(02:05):
In fact, his kingdom is thekingdom that is going to rule
and reign forever.
Right now, we're in a time inwhich there is a spiritual clash
going on.
There's a clash of kingdoms, ifyou will.
Going on.
(02:39):
There's a clash of are part ofthat battle.
There are things that are goingon that really have serious
implications, much like in WorldWar II, where the victory was
(03:02):
secure in World War II, inwhat's known as D-Day, when
Normandy was taken and thevictory over the enemy was
secure.
But between D-Day and theconclusion of the war, world War
(03:25):
II, v-e Day, there were some ofthe bloodiest battles that took
place and real casualties tookplace during that period of time
.
And much the same goes for whathas taken place when Jesus died
(03:45):
on the cross.
That being, compared to D-Day,the victory was and is secure.
But between that and his comingagain, which would be
(04:06):
considered VE Day, there aresome real battles going on, and
some of them are the bloodiestbattles that we've seen thus far
.
And so we've been focusing inon the values, as I said, the
practices and priorities.
(04:27):
But we're going to take a briefcaveat, and there are some
things that have been justruminating.
They've been going around andaround in my heart and mind.
I've been meditating on them,and funny thing about that word,
meditate, right, it's reallynot just a person sitting in a
(04:50):
lotus position with their fingerand their thumb forming a
circle and chanting the word OMas a form of meditation, but
biblical meditation.
Or what?
As a form of meditation?
But biblical meditation?
Or what we find in Scripturewhen the word meditation is used
(05:14):
, is actually best portrayed inhow a cow digests its food.
It chews its cud.
It'll chew the first bite offood, swallow it and then it'll
(05:35):
go through a process ofassimilation and chew on that
cud again, and we'll do thatseveral times until it is fully
assimilated into the cow's body.
(05:56):
It ruminates or, if you will,it meditates.
It chews the cud, and sothere's been something that has
been going on in my heart andmind, as I said, for quite some
time, and I'd like to share itwith you because I think it's
(06:18):
pertinent to some of you who arelistening, and we've made a
commitment a while back on thispodcast that we're not really
concerned about or focused onthe number of people that are
(06:38):
listening at one time.
We're not primarily focused ondemographics or on marketing and
on numbers and things that goalong with that, even though in
business those are points thatare important points of
consideration, but the lord gaveus instruction a few years ago
(07:04):
not to do that.
In fact, he said the mostimportant number to be concerned
about first and foremost washim and then one other
individual.
If one other individuallistening receives something
(07:29):
that's beneficial excuse me thatcan bring about inspiration,
revelation and application.
If something can be applied toyour life one person it is a
successful podcast episode, and,faithfully, each episode we've
(07:58):
had that experience where atleast one person has benefited
from what's been communicated,and that one person might just
be you in this episode, and wefound out that there's actually
more than just one.
(08:18):
Oftentimes that really isimpacted, and we've been
fortunate enough to see thingscommunicated on all the
continents in over 100 nations,and 1,300 plus cities around the
world tune into this particularpodcast, but it wouldn't be a
(08:47):
success if a bunch of peoplejust tuned in and were
entertained and lives weren'ttransformed.
However, if one life isimpacted, it's a success.
It's a success, and so we thankGod for what he's doing and how
(09:10):
he's doing it.
And the message that I'mlooking to convey to you today
concerns us and how we view whowe are.
It's important for us to have acorrect view of who we are,
(09:36):
because if a person has a viewof themselves that is inaccurate
, things in your life don't gowell.
If a person thinks ofthemselves too high, they're
just too high on themselves.
You end up hurting peopleBecause you use people and you
(10:07):
tend to love things instead ofusing things and loving people
Because your attitude aboutyourself is one of entitlement.
Too much privilege without theproper balancing responsibility
(10:31):
leads to that sense ofentitlement, and many of us have
seen the real caricaturizationof entitlement.
When we look at the generationright now that is coming of age,
(10:57):
that is coming of age, thesense of entitlement can be very
, very disconcerting.
People tend to want thingswithout paying the price of
(11:18):
having them.
It's like you owe me attitude.
And when that takes place, whenthere's too much privilege and
not enough responsibility,people tend to abuse people in
(11:41):
their relationships because theinflated ego overestimates their
impact and in order to get whatthey want, they tend to hurt
(12:05):
people in order to get what theywant.
They tend to hurt people inorder to get things.
Also, on the other hand, if wethink too little of ourselves,
we can actually hurt people,because sometimes we have the
responsibility of fulfilling arole and with that comes a
(12:30):
privilege to do it, but we saythings like, well, I'm just not
worthy, and we might not say itout loud, but we tend to take a
backseat role instead ofstepping up and fulfilling the
(12:58):
purpose that God has for yourlife, for our life.
In Romans, chapter 12, excuseme, in Romans, chapter 12, verse
3, the Apostle Paul says thisto a group of people he's
(13:22):
writing to in Rome.
But the Spirit of God is sayingit to us today as well, and
it's this For, by the gracegiven me, I say to every one of
you do not think of yourselfmore highly than you ought to
(13:46):
think, but rather think ofyourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the faith Godhas distributed to each of you,
soberly, soberly.
Now, paul's emphasizing not tothink too high, but with that,
(14:11):
there's also the understandingthat it's important for us not
to think too low but to thinksoberly, because we each have a
purpose to fulfill.
That's significant, and ifyou're not fulfilling it because
(14:34):
you think too low of yourself,we actually hurt people by not
fulfilling our role.
But if we think too highly ofourselves, we fail to associate
with people that we consider tobe lower than ourselves and we
(14:54):
actually hurt those people bymistreating them and devaluing
who they are.
James said that God has chosenthe poor of this world to be
rich in faith, and sometimespeople that are financially not
(15:18):
as well off as we are can belabeled as lesser, when in all
reality, they carry a greaterfaith, a faith that we can
benefit from as we associatewith them.
If we have material goods toshare, they can benefit from
(15:43):
those that we can give to themand they can give to us the
benefit of the faith that theyhave.
And so, in working together, wesee things accomplished in the
kingdom of God.
We're living in a time right nowwhere it's very important for
(16:06):
us to think about ourselvescorrectly or, as the Apostle
Paul said, in a sober way,meaning clear-minded.
You know, when you'reinebriated, oftentimes you can
have lofty thoughts or you canget really depressed.
(16:26):
If you're inebriated and thinkvery low about life, nobody
knows the trouble that you havementality, or look how great I
am, people just don't appreciatehow great I am.
But soberly, where we thinkabout things accurately and we
(16:57):
need the help of God to do thatand we need the help of God to
do that, and when we functionthat way, unique things take
place.
In the construct of the body ofChrist, we begin to love each
other on a level that issupernatural, because we can see
(17:17):
things with a clear mind, witha clear heart, and we can
function accordingly.
If you have the opportunity ofdoing great things, don't
pretend that you can't in yourattempt to be humble, that you
(17:38):
can't in your attempt to behumble, because false humility
is nothing more than pridewearing a different set of
clothes.
And if you have something thatis not a very visible purpose
(17:59):
but more of a behind-the-scenescalling, don't think that it's
not important, because it isBack in the day when ships were
being built from wood.
(18:23):
From wood, the shipbuilderswould take iron bands and they
would put them around the shipto keep the boards together.
And the name that was used forthose iron bands they were
called helps.
It's interesting.
(18:46):
Someone who has the gift orministry of helps, of helping
out, doesn't seem very flashy,but without it the ship can't
float.
You have all the boards in theworld, but if they aren't held
(19:06):
together in a proper way, theywon't be buoyant and they won't
carry things like a ship does.
So it's important for us tothink soberly and the fact that
we need each other.
(19:27):
In many of our cultures thenotion of expressing the fact
that you have a need is lookeddown upon.
But in the kingdom of God, thefact that we need each other is
actually a value, the fact thatwe need those who are visible in
(19:58):
their expression, like a handis visible, but we also need
those who are behind the scenes,like a heart.
You can't see the heart, butwithout a heart the body doesn't
function.
So my encouragement is to be ina place where we can appreciate
(20:27):
how God has made us and how weblend together and how we need
each other, and to express thatis not a sign of weakness, it's
a sign of meekness.
That is not a sign of weakness,that's a sign of meekness, and
(20:53):
meekness is a high quality.
In the kingdom of God, those whoare meek is that which is
really tied to the wordobedience or strength under
control.
It's a picture of a war horsewho, when the rider falls off
(21:18):
the horse, will stop becauseit's a meek horse, will stop
because it's a meek horse.
It is strength under control,even though that horse has the
ability to trample the riderBecause it's meek or it's been
(21:39):
meeked.
It's gone through the processof becoming meek.
It stands over the rider.
It's gone through the processof becoming meek.
It stands over the rider untilthe rider can get back on it.
It will even protect the riderfrom the arrows and the
(22:00):
advancement of the enemy at itsown risk, risking its own life A
meek horse.
So expressing the fact that weneed each other is not weakness,
it's meekness, and when we seea group of people that are meek,
(22:24):
power under control, that's asignificant force to be dealt
with.
As the kingdom of God advances,we need people who are
sober-minded and meek.
Blessed are the meek, for theyWill inherit the earth.
(22:52):
Let's pray, father, thank youFor your words of encouragement,
and I ask that you would takethese thoughts today and you'd
broadcast them, like the sowerwho sows seed, broadcasting the
(23:16):
seed, and that it would fall onhearts and minds that are
prepared to receive this andthat it would bear good fruit.
It would be used to plant andto water.
(23:41):
Holy Spirit, I honor you, lordJesus.
We declare your greatness, yoursupremacy, and we bow before
you and we offer ourselves toyou that you would consume us
with your mind so we'd seethings accurately and function
(24:04):
accordingly, and we declarethese things to be so in your
name and we say amen.
We see things accurately andfunction accordingly, and we
declare these things to be.
So in your name, and we sayamen, amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atliferonthefire, at gmailcom, or
(24:25):
type in liferonthefire and lookus up on the web.
We'd love to hear from you.
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