Guarding Against Spiritual Cancer

Romans 12:3
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.

Thought:
In the body of Christ, pride works like cancer in a human body. A cancer cell was once a normal, healthy cell, but something changed inside it. It began to live for itself and not for the body.

Pride does the same thing in our hearts. God made us to live in humble dependence on Him and in loving service to others. When pride enters our thinking, we begin to see ourselves as more important than others and more important than the whole body. Instead of asking how we can serve, we start asking how we can be seen or honored.

Paul calls us to think soberly. That means to see ourselves clearly and honestly. We remember that every good thing in us is a gift of God’s grace and not something we can boast in. We also remember that God has given to each believer a measure of faith. What we are and what we have are from God. Pride is foreign to the life of grace and faith. Humility fits the body of Christ.

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for saving me by Your grace and placing me in the body of Christ. Please expose every place in my heart where pride has taken root. Help me to see myself clearly as a sinner saved by grace and as a servant in Your church. Teach me to depend on You and not on myself. Let my thoughts, words, and actions honor Christ and build up His body. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.