Are you crazy?  You be the judge of that.  Well, maybe you shouldn’t be the judge of that.  Can a crazy person tell if they’re crazy?  I wonder if a crazy person thinks that he is normal but everyone else around him is crazy?  So, maybe you should let Scripture be your judge.

Craziness is a result of not being right in the head.  Right?  We know that craziness can be produced by chemicals, hormones, or accidents.  But I’m not talking about that kind of craziness.  There is another kind of “not being right in the head”.  I’m talking about the type of craziness that comes from not being right in our thinking.

Romans 12:3 ESV – “I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment…”

“Sober judgment”.  That’s an interesting phrase because the Greek that makes it up is found elsewhere in the New Testament translated a little differently.  Let me give you one.  Mark 5:15 ESV – “And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.”  There it is – “in his right mind” this phrase comes from the same place as “sober judgment”.

As you might know, Mark 5 is about the man possessed by a legion of demons (that’s a lot of demons).  He went about moaning and tearing off the chains that people had placed on him.   He would have definitely been labelled as crazy until he met Jesus.  So, when Mark says that this man was “in his right mind” it stands in stark contrast to how the man was  behaving just earlier in the chapter.  Being in his right mind was amazing because just moments ago he was like… crazy!

Romans 12:3 tells us to get in our right mind.  How?  Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to.  Evidently, thinking of yourself more highly than you ought is craziness!  No, seriously, something is messed up in our thinking when we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to.  Consider what happened to good old Nebuchadnezzar when he had a stint with thinking the world of himself.  God showed him just how crazy it was.

Daniel 4:29-37 ESV – At the end of twelve months he [Nebuchadnessar] was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

So, are you crazy?