8 Signs That You Are a Sovereign Grace Ministries Fan

1. You know exactly when to say, "All my days!" in the song Grace Unmeasured.
2. Girl and Talk are two words that will never have the same meaning again.
3. You find yourself using words like: Propitiation, Justification, Courtship, Reformed, and Orthodoxy.
4. Tiny books seem to have big impacts.
5. You have role models like: John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, Elisabeth Elliot, Charles Spurgeon, Carolyn McCulley, and Martin Luther.
6. Men: You have this odd desire to shave your head and have at least 38 kids.
Women: You enjoy modesty and words like femininity and womanhood... oh yeah, and desire to have at least 38 kids.
7. You own a book or poster with "The Puritans" written on it.
8. 'Na' does not register as sodium in your mind.

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Sorry for the long down time between posts. Do not fret. I am alive and have not forgotten you (if any), my loyal readers. New posts are on the way!

Teach Me, pt. 3

Humility

Oftentimes, I find myself not expressing true humility. First, when dealing with vertical humility (relating to God), I find myself admitting depravity and thinking that that is humility.

Christian humility does not consist in denying what there is of good in us; but in an abiding sense of ill-desert, and in the consciousness that what we have of good is due to the grace of God.

Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 317

For instance if someone points out something good in my life, I often respond with an admittance of depravity ("I am not capable of _____.") While this isn't false humility, it isn't humility either and is as bad as if I was having an attitude of pride.

Humility, then, gives credit where credit is due.... Pride, which is the opposite of humility, seeks to find within ourselves some innate goodness or even to ascribe to our own commitment or faithfulness the cause of any blessings of God in our lives.

Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, p. 201

While I am not taking credit for myself, I am not giving proper credit and glory to God. Pride takes the glory that God deserves, for doing good in our lives, for ourselves. While I am not taking glory for myself, I am not giving it to God either. Either way, God is not glorified.

Humility begins with God's grace and recognizes that the good in us in the form of Christlike character, and the good done by us in service to God and other people, is totally undeserved on our part and is due to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But humility does not deny the evidences of His gracious work in us and through us. To do so would be to dishonor Him as much as to ascribe the cause and results of His working to ourselves.

Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, p. 201

May I learn to honor You, oh God, with true humility.

Second, when dealing with horizontal humility (relating to others), I do not pursue that others would be successful. I see myself as superior.

Pride...is comparing ourselves with others and seeing ourselves as superior to them in some way - whether it be in character, conduct, or achievement. One of the worst forms of pride is spiritual pride, and attitude that I am more holy, or righteous, or faithful, or obedient, or more fruitful in evangelism than others. Humility towards others, then, is...a recognition that all we are and do that is of any worth is a gift of God's grace.

Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, p. 202