“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3 NASB1995)

There are two different contexts going on here, i.e. the one prior to verse 3 and the one following verse 3, and verse 3 truly fits with either context, the latter of which has to do with the gifts of the Spirit. But I believe the Lord wants me to apply verse 3 in the context of verses 1-2. For verses 1-2 have to do with our lifestyles, our practices, and with God’s design and purpose for those of us professing faith in Jesus Christ, regarding how we are to live and how we are not to live, as those who claim to be the children of God.

Recap: In verses 1-2 we are urged, by the mercies of God, that we should present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God. For in Jesus’ death and resurrection, he put our sins to death with him, and he rose victorious over death, hell, Satan, and sin, for our sake, that we might now die with him to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, and in surrender to his will for our lives.

And we are not to be conformed to (obeying, following) the ways of this sinful world. We are not to be like the world in thought, word, attitude, and deed. We are not to take on the character of the world and its sinful and fleshly desires, but we are to be God’s holy people who are different, unlike, and separate from the world because we are being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ. We should be dead to sin and alive to God in walks of holiness, godliness, moral purity, and sincere faith in Christ.

So, in that context, this can go two different ways. The first of which is a warning to us not to see ourselves more highly than we ought to think with an unrealistic and puffed up opinion of ourselves. But we need to have an honest and humble evaluation of ourselves, and we need to be humble in our hearts and minds. The other is that we need to not be those who are deliberately and habitually living in sin and in disobedience to our Lord while we put on an outward appearance of living a Christian life, pleasing to God.

This is what the Lord wants me to talk about here. For there are many people professing faith in Christ, convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and that eternal life with God is promised them, but while they have not and they are not dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands. Instead, they are still living in deliberate and habitual sin, wandering in deliberate defiance and rejection of God’s commands, but while they put on an outward performance of being followers of Christ and children of God.

But they don’t want anyone to know what they are really up to when no one else is looking, so they fake their Christianity, for they lack the courage to be honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord’s commands. And they are living dangerously, hoping to not get caught while convincing themselves that God will not judge them for their defiance and their deliberate and habitual sins. But they are living beneath (lower than) what the message of the gospel teaches, and so they are lying to themselves, as they are to other people.

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9 NASB1995)

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior
And your testimony is separate from Him.
Your words not matching your actions today.
Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.
Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,
For you profess one thing, but other you do.
Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.
Not living in truth to what you confess.
Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.
Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.
Your heart is not given to your Lord God.
Because of how you live, you are a fraud.
Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

Christian Faith in Performance Only
An Original Work / December 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love