Every once in awhile one of my kids will do something

spectacular and triumphantly announce,

“Wahooo, Pro-Skillage!”

Thinking skills.  We need them.

The Gospel encourages us to become pro-skillage thinkers.

Nobody observes your thinking but they do observe the affect.

Notice how Paul connects the Gospel to critical thinking about the self.

3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.   Romans 12:3

Pro-skillage Gospel thinking means that we think about ourselves with faith.

Sober judgment: a plain, critical view of ourselves — weaknesses and strengths.

And then throw in a measure of faith from God.

Thinking with faith causes us to grapple with:

• The foundation of the self; we are created in the image of God.

• The grace and mercy of God in the Gospel; we are forgiven and deeply loved.

• The call of God; we are called to share in His mission and the communion of His people.

• And the depth of our conviction that God is able to do more with us than we could do on our own.