Right now I am reading The Dicsipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. It has been an excellent tool of conviction, grace, and hope in my life right now and I wanted to share a passage that provided an abundant amount of all three of those things listed above:
Positive character traits and active love:
(This is 1 Cor. 13 as action statements)
- I am patient with you because I love you and I want to forgive you.
- I am kind to you because I love you and I want to help you.
- I do not envy your possessions or your gifts because I love you and I want you to have the best.
- I do not boast about my attainments because I love you and want to hear about yours.
- I am not proud because I love you and want to esteem you before myself.
- I am not rude because I love you and care about your feelings.
- I am not self-seeking because I love you and want to meet your needs.
- I am not easily angered by you because I love you and want to overlook your offenses.
- I do not keep a record of your wrongs because I love you, and 'love covers a multitude of sins.'
The topic of humility is referenced almost forty times in the New Testament, yet how much time and effort do I put into growing in humility? It is far too easy to grow in pride as you grow in wisdom, and it is almost impossible to see self-righteousness within ourselves. Perhaps it is time to take the sins of pride and self-righteousness and lay them before Christ and pray fervently for humility and grace.
