Both the prideful and the self-depreciating views are a product of a conformed mind, a mind that takes its cues from the world or self or Satan rather than from God. The transformed mind is very different.

Just because God has made us righteous and guiltless in Christ doesn’t mean we automatically experience the benefits of who we are. Our minds are like audio players, constantly running a message. We see our entire lives in the light of this message. We interpret everything in a way that reinforces our fundamental beliefs about ourselves.

I may interpret everything I do as great, meaningful, more special and significant than what anyone else does. Everything I see reinforces my inflated prideful opinion of myself:

I am more important than other people. My ideas are always better, my insights more profound, my work more skillful. Without me, my family and church would crumble. I am indispensable. God needs me on his team, and everybody should be grateful I’m around. I will see that I get all that’s coming to me. After all, I deserve it.

This is the kind of attitude that Romans 12:3 warns us not to have: “Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.” However, the verse also says we are to think of ourselves with sound judgment, which means we are to think accurately about ourselves.

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