My spiritual taught us a principle that I have lived by over the years. He would say, “always live some steps below your current level.” He would charge us to not show off or let people know all there is to us. To him, it is better to be underrated than to be overrated.
Friend, there is no better time to heed this counsel than now; it is better to be underrated than to be overrated. This does not mean that you should think less of yourself or misrepresent God and your destiny in dignity and worth (Romans 12:3). It only means that you should live your life in such a way that people cannot tell all there is to you on the surface.
“He that is despised, and has a servant, is better than he that honours himself, and lacks bread” (Proverbs 12:9). If all there is to you is all we are seeing now, then you are not living wisely. Wise people mask their true worth, foolish people reveal everything (Proverbs 29:11). I know we are in an age of image management, but you need to manage your image wisely, and this includes living some steps below your current level.
Most times, it is people who have little or nothing that try to impress people. Real people concentrate on where they are going, not where they are at the moment. They do not have an arrival mentality. Don’t join the band wagon of people who buy things they don’t need with the money they don’t have to impress people who don’t like them.
One of the major components of wisdom, aside prudence and discretion, is subtilty. This is about being strategic. Knowing what to say or show per time; understanding how to deal in different situations. This was what we saw in the serpent in Genesis; he was strategic, the woman was not (Genesis 3:1-6).
Living some steps below your current level would deliver you from unnecessary pressures (Philippians 4:12-13). It would also help you to manage your growth and development as you make progress in destiny. When you are strategic, you mind what you say and do. You do not push yourself. You achieve more success in the private than you are showing in the public.
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria
