Think soberly.
by C. Emerson Strain from a sermon by Bro Rick Keener.
David had a son named Absalom. His best trait was his beauty. If fact, his hair was more full and beautiful than anyone else in the nation.
But
in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his
beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there
was no blemish in him.
And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled
it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed
the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight.
2 SAM
14:25-26
The thing about ourself, that we think that is the best part of us, can also be the thing that can destroy us.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Psa 39:5
We can become confident in our abilities, we can become confident in our salvation, our jobs, our leadership. We can become confident in our ability to lead a service in our Church. We can become confident in any trait that even others "look up" to. But that can be the very thing that makes us become proud and forget to look to God.
Absalom had a nation to praise him because of his looks, his beautiful hair. But this also what hung him. The very thing that he gloried in, hug him. What about yourself that you "think" that you are the best at?
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. Rom 12:3
See Absalom got himself in a position to be destroyed by the enemy.
And
Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the
mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold
of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and
the mule that was under him went away.
And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom
hanged in an oak. 2
Sam 18:9-10
Shortly afterwards, Joab took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Absalom's heart. Absalom got hung by his best trait.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before
us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb
12:2-3