I’ve been following @ScottyWardSmith for some time on Twitter now and have enjoyed his thought provoking tweets.
He describes himself as: Pastor for Preaching and Worship at Christ Community Church. Husband, dad, granddad, big sinner with a bigger gospel, fisher of men and fish, photographer
As of the last month or so, he’s begun tweeting a really interesting “series” of tweets that offer “signs you’re growing in grace.”
I don’t remember exactly when Scott started sharing these, but I went back through the archives to Feb. 26th and found a lot of great nuggets – many I had missed the first time around.
I’ve found a lot of them have been encouraging, others have been discouraging but they’ve all hit home on some level. I thought I’d go back and share these tweets with the rest of you.
I’ve emphasized some of the ones that really hit home with me in one way or another…
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A sign you’re growing in grace. If you USED to be a Charismatic, you don’t atrophy into dead or dry orthodoxy
A sign you’re growing in grace. If you’re “finally” Reformed, you don’t confuse knowledge with spirituality
A sign you’re growing in grace. You realize that Presbtyerian and Reformed types are .07% of the entire Body of Christ
A sign you’re growing in grace. The more you learn about Jesus & the gospel the more you realize how little YOU know.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re thinking more about the new heaven & new earth than the intermediate state
A sign you’re growing in grace: Missions isn’t a budget line item but a core passion & preoccupation
A sign you’re growing in grace: You desire less stuff rather than simply buying more
A sign you’re growing in grace: Places like Haiti, Dafur and Somolia aren’t “missions targets”, but family
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear the word “sanctification,” you think about Jesus & his work, not yours
A sign you’re growing in grace: When speak about “the victorious Christian life” you’re referring to Jesus, not you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Nothing makes your blood boil more than false gospels.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your spouse marvels at how much better you are at listening than early in your marriage
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you think about “blessings” from God, suffering makes your list
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “idolatry” makes you think about your heart more so than Greek temples
A sign you’re growing in grace: The passive righteousness of Jesus lights an active fire in your heart for kingdom work
A sign you’re growing in grace: The phrase, “meriting God’s favor” has been ripped from your salvific vocabulary
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve got a whole lot more confidence in Jesus’ prayers than yours
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re content, even glad knowing that God sometimes answers your prayers with “No.”
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can find Jesus in the Book of Obadiah
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly Trinitarian
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your neighbors are glad they are
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly less quarrelsome, sarcastic and easily offended
A sign you’re growing in grace: When U hear the word “mortification” U think about killing sin, not being embarrassed
A sign you’re growing in grace: It’s getting easier not to retaliate, get even, or even crave God’s vengeance
A sign you’re growing in grace: The work “trafficking” moves you to work for justice, not complain about too many cars
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t care squat about infralapsarianism, but you’ll defend the gospel with your life
A sign you’re growing in grace: Less cynicism about other people’s sins and more tears over your own
A sign you’re growing in grace: You feel like you’re just beginning to appreciate all the riches and depth of John 3:16
A sign you’re growing in grace: You argue less about the timing of the Spirit’s baptism & thirst 4 more of his fullness
A sign you’re growing in grace: God’s promises claim you more than you claim them
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your thoughts of heaven are more about the transforming of this world than escaping it
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can enjoy God’s gifts without reservation & share God’s gifts without hesitation
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t linger at religious TV programming just to fuel contempt & make snide remarks
A sign you’re growing in grace: You remember the names of your checkout attendants where you usually buy your groceries
A sign you’re growing in grace: Compliments don’t intoxicate you and criticism doesn’t decimate you
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your theology always leads to doxolgy, not merely to you being more right than others
A sign your’e growing in grace: It takes minutes not weeks to recognize when you’ve fallen back into works righteousness
A sign you’re growing in grace: You find yourself choosing to use the phrase, “You don’t get me” less and less
A sign you’re growing in grace: When in Starbucks, you don’t judge the people who sit in the best chairs for hours
A sign you’re growing in grace. You unplug your affirmation-junkie umbilical cord from people by believing the gospel
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t trust signs, just Jesus
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re aware of the racist that lives in you, not just in the Bubbas & rednecks near you
A sign you’re growing in grace: You waste less food & time, and your committed giving is becoming cheerful giving
A sign you’re growing in grace: You know the difference between an Armenian and an Arminian
A sign you’re growing in grace: You think about fixing people less and loving them more
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your family and friends can relax around you more than they did last year.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve given up trying to be the 4th member of the Trinity
A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear the word “perichoresis” you think about the Trinity, not gum disease
A sign you’re growing in grace: You will do everything you can NOT to do unnecessary damage to a person’s reputation
A sign you’re growing in grace: Prayer walks are yielding as much satisfaction as shopping sprees, maybe more.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You enjoy, but you don’t flaunt Christian liberty. Act like you been there before
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t violate confidences. You can be trusted with the brokenness of others
A sign you’re growing in grace: When at the “Y” or gym of choice, you do less mirror gazing and more working out
A sign you’re growing in grace: Christian art doesn’t mean more paintings of the Lord’s Supper or Jesus with children
A sign you’re growing in grace: Lent is not a season for navel-gazing introspection but cross-surveying celebration
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t do penance to impress Jesus; you do repentant faith which unites you to Jesus
A sign you’re growing in grace: What you are behind the steering wheel is a demonstration of the power of the gospel
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your idenity is MORE tied to who you are in Christ than to your Myers-Briggs profile
A sign you’re growing in grace: People are rarely offended by how tied you are to your cell phone or laptop
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your use of caller ID reflects your commitment to love well, not simply avoid people
A sign you’re growing in grace: “Lent” is the 40 weekdays before Easter, not the past tense of “lend” or navel filler.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The time lapse between the Spirit’s convicting and your repenting is much shorter
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t have to form an opinion about everything, nor a need to always share yours
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “godliness” makes you think about what Jesus has done for you, not vice versa
A sign you’re growing in grace: You laugh with louder gufaws, & cry with hotter tears, because the gospel is at work.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The Bible reads you as much as you read the Bible
A sign you’re growing in grace: You notice a person’s dignity before you notice their depravity
A sign you’re growing in grace: There are fewer pages in the little book in which you keep a record of wrongs done to you
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your cry for a changed heart is louder than your cry for relief
A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “overcomer” in Revelation makes you think about Jesus, THE Overcomer, not you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Repentance is becoming less something YOU do and more Someone you trust, namely, Jesus
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t pontificate judgment on a country if it experiences an earthquake or tsunami
A sign you’re growing in grace: The more you understand your union with Christ the more you crave communion with Him
A sign you’re growing in grace: You say “always” and “never” less often, and “I’m so sorry” a whole lot more
A sign you’re growing in grace: You practice the anatomical ratio of ears to mouth: Listening twice as much as talking
A sign you’re growing in grace: You can enjoy B B Warfield AND B B King
A sign you’re growing in grace: You recognize quicker when you’re importing last year’s anger into today’s disappointment
A sign you’re growing in grace: People you’re talking with don’t just hear your words but experience your presence
A sign you’re growing in grace: You grieve how touchy, pouty and defensive you can be
A sign you’re growing in grace: When your team (Tar Heels) gets THRASHED by your arch enemy (Duke) & you humbly own it
A sign you’re growing in grace: You won’t be watching NCAA tournament basketball games at work “on the sly”
A sign you’re growing in grace: You repent freely and regularly, to your spouse and children
A sign you’re growing in grace: The gap between your sound doctrine and your actual discipleship is narrowing
A sign you’re growing in grace: Because of God’s grace at work in your heart, it’s getting harder to gossip, nag & snarl
A sign you’re growing in grace: You love “bracketology” but you REALLY love theology.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re cultivating an informed mind with an enflamed heart and engaged hands
A sign you’re growing in grace: The gospel is freeing you from dead orthodoxy and live heterodoxy
A sign you’re growing in grace: You spend way less time stuck in the paralysis of analysis
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re just as excited about what the gospel frees you FOR as what it frees you FROM
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t feel the need to pose and pretend as often or as much.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The main work you’ll be about the rest of your life is believing in Jesus – Jn 6:29
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t appeal to the sovereignty of God as an excuse for your being lazy or foolish
A sign your’e growing in grace: If you don’t know, you don’t pretend you do.
A sign you’re growing in grace: Somebody with redemptive wisdom knows about your struggle with sexual sin
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re better about responding to calls and invitations, and sending thank you notes
A sign you’re growing in grace: It hurts, but doesn’t devastate you when people move from your church to another one
A sign you’re growing in grace: You stop trying to be an chameleon on scotch plaid… trying to keep everybody happy
A sign you’re growing in grace: You ask, “What on earth is Jesus doing?”, not, “What would Jesus do if he was here?”
A sign you’re growing in grace: You know the difference between dialogue & diatribe when discussing theological matters
A sign you’re growing in grace: You know when you’re giving God a bit part in your story versus finding your place in His
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t live by the frowns and judgments of professional weaker brothers
A sign you’re growing in grace: You boast IN your weaknesses but you don’t boast about them. They don’t define you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t immediately assume panhandlers are lazy addicts looking to rip you off
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re intentional about not spending all your time with Christians
A sign you’re growing in grace: You know you’re not anywhere close to being as free as Jesus intends
A sign you’re growing in grace: The people who know you best would say you live more of a called life than a driven life
A sign you’re growing in grace: You know if Jesus is calling you to do 3 things you can’t afford to dabble with 17
A sign you’re growing in grace: You know the difference between being obsessively busy and providentially busy
A sign you’re growing in grace: Your inwards groans are getting louder and your eager waiting more intense. Rom.8:23
A sign you’re growing in grace: “Rewards” means throwing crowns at Jesus’ feet, not better furniture for your “mansion”
A sign you’re growing in grace: You give God all the credit and praise for chocolate
A sign you’re growing in grace: There are things you no longer do only because of your love for Jesus
A sign you’re growing in grace: You want to trust again more than you want to stay stuck in your hurt
A sign you’re growing in grace: The older you get the more you remember stuff your parents actually did right
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What stood out to you?
Anything you would add to the list?
