Thought for the Day - Friday 11 September

 Thought for the Day – Friday 11^th September

‘For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.’ (Romans 12:3)

 

There is a story told of a security guard at a factory. One day this guard stopped a worker who was walking out of the factory gate, pushing a wheelbarrow with a suspicious looking package in it. The guard opened up the package only to discover that it contained nothing but odd bits of rubbish, sawdust and the sweepings from the floor. The next day, same thing happened, again the guard checked the suspicious looking package but it was only rubbish, sawdust and sweepings – nothing at all of value. After the same thing happened many days in succession the guard finally said to the worker, ‘Okay I give up. I know you are up to something but I don’t know what it is. I promise I won’t arrest you, but please put me out of my misery and tell me what you are stealing.’ The worker looked at the guard, smiled and replied, ‘Wheelbarrows, my friend, I am stealing wheelbarrows!’

 

They do say appearances can be deceptive don’t they and I think perceptions can be too and not just the way we view others but also the way we view ourselves – sometimes we can create such distorted images of ourselves and others.

 

For example, I am sure that worker did think of himself more highly than he should have because he was being smart and managing to get away with all those wheelbarrows he was stealing and no doubt he thought little of the security guard because he was managing to dupe him each day!

 

As we journey through life, we can end up with such distortions or perceptions too – sometimes we belittle ourselves to the point of feeling we are of no value, yet at other times we can be tempted to think way too highly of ourselves and so develop an ego fit to burst!

 

Sadly, we can also inflict such distortions on others too for we can end up belittling others or think of them much more highly than we should or more highly than they deserve – we place them on a pedestal.

 

Often this happens because we are confusing our perceptions with reality or perhaps because pride has burst into our lives feeding false perceptions or we have fallen foul of devaluing who and what we are or they are. All of these being things of which we should beware.

 

Our passage is saying God wants us to have a proper sense of our worth and a proper appreciation of the worth of others.

 

We are all flawed as human beings, yet we are all special. None of us are perfect but we are all redeemable.

 

So Paul’s advice to us is that we do not think of ourselves too highly nor are we to put ourselves down – this advice also applies to the way we perceive others and is good advice for us to heed!

 

Prayer

 

Loving Lord,

In deep gratitude for all that you have done for us and all we are, we offer ourselves and our gifts to you this day and always. Transform our hearts and minds from the inside out, may we be slow to make assumptions and may you show us what is good and pleasing in your sight hat we may value each and every person we meet for who they are – a child of God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

Friday Fun Time:

 

Here are your trivia questions for today!

 

1. The Proverb says ‘Pride comes before a fall’ – how many more proverbs can you list.

 

2. List as many flavours of crisps as you can!

 

3. Have you ever jumped to a conclusion about someone?

 

4. ‘Keeping up Appearances’ – have you ever?

 

5. Today is 9/11 – can you remember where you were when you heard the news of the Twin   

    Towers?