the third application that you can add to your day
in trying to cultivate humility and destroy pride,
is to
- Invite and pursue correction.
i learned the other day that there is a difference between transparency and vulnerability.
- transparency: being open and completely honest.
- vulnerability: being open to correction.
do you see the difference there?
i can be transparent and not vulnerable by being completely honest with you and not pursuing or accepting correction.
i was convicted of this in my own life, and so i’m starting another blog called vulnerablefreedom.com
not really-but some day maybe.
but seriously, there are times when i pursued the most dangerous situation:
- protecting my sin by hiding behind a religious mask.
i was being “transparent” and then moving on … exposing pride at the same time as protecting pride because if i admit something, well, that’s better than most, so that’s good enough … since i’ve exposed it, i don’t need to do any heart surgery.
do you see how that works?
sin is so blinding…
especially pride.
c.j. mahaney said,
…God’s Word tells me, ‘No, C. J., sin is subtle, sin is deceitful, and sin blinds you. And you need feedback from others in order to understand your heart.’
this reminds me of a story about a dude being able to see a speck in his buddy’s eye and not realizing he has a honkin log in his own eye.
that story is reality.
if we want to grow in Christlikeness,
if we want to have our sin exposed so that we can battle it and become more like our King,
if we want to shine light on the dark areas of our hearts,
if we want to pursue sanctification as much as it depends on us,
we must be transparent and vulnerable.
we must not only show people our hearts,
we must trust & hand our hearts to them,
ask them to scour it for any mold,
and cut it out.
that is painful…
and effective,
both in our pursuit of humility and in our pursuit of Christ.
that can be a scary thing that rattles your worldview – handing over your heart to somebody to cut as they please.
which is why i recommend only handing your heart to people who love & pursue Jesus more than anything else in this world, including their job, their status, money, especially themselves, and even their spouse.
or how paul tripp said it,
My self-perception is as accurate as a carnival mirror. If I am going to see myself clearly, I need you to hold the mirror of God’s Word in front of me.
if you don’t know anybody like this, start sharing the gospel with whomever you hang out with, and pray for the Holy Spirit to rise somebody up in your life that will do this for your good and God’s glory.
if you don’t hang out with anybody, start hanging out with people – we were created to live with people.
people pursuing Jesus will cut up your heart with the Sword-the Word of God.
now don’t get all bent out of shape when you hand your heart over to somebody radically devoted to Christ, and they slice an area that did not be touched … this will happen … we all still live in a fallen world.
rely on the cross in that moment to grant forgiveness and give your heart back to them to try again … that’ll knock them over.
(now if they just keep butchering your heart over & over … don’t be foolish in handing back over … just be prayerful and let the Spirit lead)
in regards to this fact that people’s judgment will not be 100% accurate all the time, c.j. mahaney said,
Humility doesn’t demand mathematical precision from another’s input; humility postures itself to receive god’s grace from any avenue possible.
it’s not enough to just talk or know about doing this,
or talk about how the Bible talks about community and accountability…
peter davids wrote,
No matter how extensive one’s scriptural knowledge, or how amazing one’s memory, it is self-deception if that is all there is. True knowledge is the prelude to action, and it is the obedience to the Word that counts in the end.
lastly, paul reminds us in his letter to the galatians that the desires of the flesh are neither neutral in their stance nor do they cease at any point in any person’s life (see Galatians 5:17).
john owen wrote,
There is no duty we perform for God that sin does not oppose. And the more spirituality or holiness there is in what we do, the greater is its enmity to it. Thus, those who seek the most for God experience the strongest opposition.
you will never grow enough in the ability to see your own sin…
sin, partly by definition, ensures that this is not a possibility.
be vulnerable.
be transparent.
and may the freedom in Christ overwhelm your soul.
let’s pursue application #16: pursue and invite correction in your life.
here were some good questions found in this chapter by c.j. mahaney to ask yourself (and better yet, ask your best friend to answer also):
do i confess my sin consistently?
do i confess specific instances of sin and not just general categories or general references to sin?
do others find it easy to correct me?
do others know the areas of temptation in my life at present?
do they know the most pronounced patterns of sin in my life at present?
*study on humility based on c.j. mahaney’s book “Humility: True Greatness”
ltlo
