For 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

Becky and I were in Ohio this past weekend.  On the way home, we stopped at a rest area where a sign posted by the Department of Transportation offered the names of the governor and the director of the department.  Maybe we were meant to be thankful to Governor DeWine and Director Marchbanks for their kindness in placing the rest area where it was placed. It was in the perfect spot for us when we visited it last weekend.

But it seemed that Director Marchbanks not only wanted us to know of his great foresight in having the rest area right where we needed it, he also wanted to do a little bit of bragging about his academic achievements.  “Jack Marchbanks, Ph.D., Director,” the sign said.

I was tempted to google Director Marchbanks to learn more. Is a Ph.D. required of the directors of Ohio’s Department of Transportation?  In which field did the director earn his degree? Medieval Philosophy? Art History? Bureaucratic Management?  Rest Area Design?  Or maybe I would learn of the hardships and obstacles Director Marchbanks overcame to gain his Ph.D.

In the end, I decided that the details of Director Marchbanks’ degree really don’t matter.

In fact, I very much doubt that the details of Director Marchbanks’ degree matter to any of the patrons of Ohio’s rest areas or the snowplow drivers and pothole patchers employed by his department.  I wonder if Director Marchbanks thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think.

Some might say that pride in our accomplishments is a particularly American or Western idea. To be certain, modesty about self is not much regarded as a virtue in our time. A hundred years ago G.K. Chesterton wrote, “A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert – himself.”

In a different place and at a different time, the Apostle Paul warned about undue self-promotion.  “Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think,” he cautions us in Romans 12.

To be sure, many of us have known those who think too lowly of themselves, but from politicians to preachers self-promotion is a far greater concern than self-debasement.

That rest area on U.S. 30 came at just the right time, and I am thankful to Governor DeWine and Director Marchbanks for seeing to it that it was open and clean.  But come on, Jack.  Do we really need to know about your Ph.D. – even if it is in Rest Area Design?