The more I pay attention to myself throughout the day, the more I realize that very often I am not responding in a healthy, positive or godly way.  My knee-jerk reaction is selfish and lazy.  I don’t want to have to expend my energy on something that doesn’t benefit me directly, or may cause me any amount of stress at all, no matter how simple or easy the task may be.

I am also recognizing that, many times, I am not really seeing things accurately.  I may be connecting current events with past events, and responding emotionally to something that happened years ago instead of the person, place or thing directly in front of me.  It dawned on me that my strong belief that I definitely know what is going on is not warranted, because what I am seeing, hearing and feeling may not be anchored in the present reality.

In addition, I have uncovered a very stubborn insistence that I always feel like I am right, that I know the truth.  It is so strong, that even when directly confronted with a fact that shows me that I may have done something wrong, my immediate reaction is to jettison that fact and hurriedly find a reason why what I did or said or felt was justified so I can continue to feel that I am right.  I ALWAYS assume I am right, because I trust so implicitly that my five senses transmit completely accurate information, and even worse, that my memories are infallible.

All of this combined is a very scary concept.  My tendency to believe myself over others is very dangerous, because I will avoid or discard input from other people and sources that may be integral to my well being. I am continually, instinctively cutting off my nose to spite my face by defending my actions and beliefs without ever considering that I may actually be wrong.

So, what would happen if I turned this around on its head?  What if I always assumed that I might be wrong? What if, when confronted by an opposing opinion, my first reaction was to doubt my infallibility and consider the possibility that what they say could be true?

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

I would probably experience true humility for the first time in my life. I would make thinking more highly of others than myself an everyday reality.  My first reaction would be to listen to them and learn from them, not protect my reputation for knowing everything and always being right.

May God grant us the ability to doubt ourselves enough to be open to being corrected by others. In other words, may we humble ourselves before the Lord and man.