God’s Word urges us to cultivate balance in the way we view ourselves. The apostle Paul wrote under inspiration: “Through the undeserved kindness given to me I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think; but to think so as to have a sound mind, each one as God has distributed to him a measure of faith.”—Romans 12:3.
Certainly, we would not want to think too highly of ourselves to the point of becoming conceited; nor would we want to go to the other extreme and think nothing of ourselves. Rather, our aim should be to cultivate a reasonable view of ourselves, one that takes into consideration our strengths as well as our limitations. A Christian woman put it this way: “I’m not the epitome of evil; nor am I God’s gift to others. I have both good points and bad points, and so does everyone else.”
Of course, to attain such a balanced perspective is easier said than done. It may take a great deal of effort to undo an overly negative view of ourselves that we may have developed over many years. Nevertheless, with God’s help we can change our personality as well as our outlook on life. Actually, this is what God’s Word urges us to do. We read: “Put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but . . . you should be made new in the force actuating your mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.”—Ephesians 4:22-24.
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