{"id":7402,"date":"2011-03-18T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=7402"},"modified":"2011-03-17T22:25:11","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T04:25:11","slug":"signs-your-growing-in-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/signs-your-growing-in-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs your growing in grace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Grace was said before the barbeque was served at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair | Photo from the Library of Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve been following @ScottyWardSmith<\/a><\/span> for some time on Twitter now and have enjoyed his thought provoking tweets.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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.” <\/p>\n

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.
\n
\nI’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. <\/p>\n

I’ve emphasized some of the ones that really hit home with me in one way or another…<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace. If you USED to be a Charismatic, you don’t atrophy into dead or dry orthodoxy<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace. If you’re “finally” Reformed, you don’t confuse knowledge with spirituality<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace. You realize that Presbtyerian and Reformed types are .07% of the entire Body of Christ<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace. The more you learn about Jesus & the gospel the more you realize how little YOU know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re thinking more about the new heaven & new earth than the intermediate state<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Missions isn’t a budget line item but a core passion & preoccupation<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You desire less stuff rather than simply buying more<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Places like Haiti, Dafur and Somolia aren’t “missions targets”, but family<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear the word “sanctification,” you think about Jesus & his work, not yours<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When speak about “the victorious Christian life” you’re referring to Jesus, not you.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Nothing makes your blood boil more than false gospels.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your spouse marvels at how much better you are at listening than early in your marriage<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When you think about “blessings” from God, suffering makes your list<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “idolatry” makes you think about your heart more so than Greek temples<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The passive righteousness of Jesus lights an active fire in your heart for kingdom work<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The phrase, “meriting God’s favor” has been ripped from your salvific vocabulary<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve got a whole lot more confidence in Jesus’ prayers than yours<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re content, even glad knowing that God sometimes answers your prayers with “No.”<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You can find Jesus in the Book of Obadiah<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly Trinitarian<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your neighbors are glad they are<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re increasingly less quarrelsome, sarcastic and easily offended<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When U hear the word “mortification” U think about killing sin, not being embarrassed<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: It’s getting easier not to retaliate, get even, or even crave God’s vengeance<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The work “trafficking” moves you to work for justice, not complain about too many cars<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t care squat about infralapsarianism, but you’ll defend the gospel with your life<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Less cynicism about other people’s sins and more tears over your own<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You argue less about the timing of the Spirit’s baptism & thirst 4 more of his fullness<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: God’s promises claim you more than you claim them<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your thoughts of heaven are more about the transforming of this world than escaping it<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You can enjoy God’s gifts without reservation & share God’s gifts without hesitation<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t linger at religious TV programming just to fuel contempt & make snide remarks<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You remember the names of your checkout attendants where you usually buy your groceries<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Compliments don’t intoxicate you and criticism doesn’t decimate you<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your theology always leads to doxolgy, not merely to you being more right than others<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign your’e growing in grace: It takes minutes not weeks to recognize when you’ve fallen back into works righteousness<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You find yourself choosing to use the phrase, “You don’t get me” less and less<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When in Starbucks, you don’t judge the people who sit in the best chairs for hours<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace. You unplug your affirmation-junkie umbilical cord from people by believing the gospel<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t trust signs, just Jesus<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You waste less food & time, and your committed giving is becoming cheerful giving<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You know the difference between an Armenian and an Arminian<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You think about fixing people less and loving them more<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your family and friends can relax around you more than they did last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’ve given up trying to be the 4th member of the Trinity<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear the word “perichoresis” you think about the Trinity, not gum disease<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You will do everything you can NOT to do unnecessary damage to a person’s reputation<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Prayer walks are yielding as much satisfaction as shopping sprees, maybe more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You enjoy, but you don’t flaunt Christian liberty. Act like you been there before<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t violate confidences. You can be trusted with the brokenness of others<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When at the “Y” or gym of choice, you do less mirror gazing and more working out<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Christian art doesn’t mean more paintings of the Lord’s Supper or Jesus with children<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Lent is not a season for navel-gazing introspection but cross-surveying celebration<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t do penance to impress Jesus; you do repentant faith which unites you to Jesus<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: What you are behind the steering wheel is a demonstration of the power of the gospel<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your idenity is MORE tied to who you are in Christ than to your Myers-Briggs profile<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: People are rarely offended by how tied you are to your cell phone or laptop<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your use of caller ID reflects your commitment to love well, not simply avoid people<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: “Lent” is the 40 weekdays before Easter, not the past tense of “lend” or navel filler.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The time lapse between the Spirit’s convicting and your repenting is much shorter<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t have to form an opinion about everything, nor a need to always share yours<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “godliness” makes you think about what Jesus has done for you, not vice versa<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You laugh with louder gufaws, & cry with hotter tears, because the gospel is at work.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The Bible reads you as much as you read the Bible<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You notice a person’s dignity before you notice their depravity<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your cry for a changed heart is louder than your cry for relief<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The word “overcomer” in Revelation makes you think about Jesus, THE Overcomer, not you.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Repentance is becoming less something YOU do and more Someone you trust, namely, Jesus<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t pontificate judgment on a country if it experiences an earthquake or tsunami<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The more you understand your union with Christ the more you crave communion with Him<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You say “always” and “never” less often, and “I’m so sorry” a whole lot more<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You practice the anatomical ratio of ears to mouth: Listening twice as much as talking<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You can enjoy B B Warfield AND B B King<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You recognize quicker when you’re importing last year’s anger into today’s disappointment<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: People you’re talking with don’t just hear your words but experience your presence<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You grieve how touchy, pouty and defensive you can be<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: When your team (Tar Heels) gets THRASHED by your arch enemy (Duke) & you humbly own it<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You won’t be watching NCAA tournament basketball games at work “on the sly”<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You repent freely and regularly, to your spouse and children<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The gap between your sound doctrine and your actual discipleship is narrowing<\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You love “bracketology” but you REALLY love theology.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re cultivating an informed mind with an enflamed heart and engaged hands<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The gospel is freeing you from dead orthodoxy and live heterodoxy<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You spend way less time stuck in the paralysis of analysis<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t feel the need to pose and pretend as often or as much.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A sign your’e growing in grace: If you don’t know, you don’t pretend you do.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Somebody with redemptive wisdom knows about your struggle with sexual sin<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re better about responding to calls and invitations, and sending thank you notes<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: It hurts, but doesn’t devastate you when people move from your church to another one<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You stop trying to be an chameleon on scotch plaid… trying to keep everybody happy<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You ask, “What on earth is Jesus doing?”, not, “What would Jesus do if he was here?”<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You know the difference between dialogue & diatribe when discussing theological matters<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t live by the frowns and judgments of professional weaker brothers<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You boast IN your weaknesses but you don’t boast about them. They don’t define you.<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t immediately assume panhandlers are lazy addicts looking to rip you off<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re intentional about not spending all your time with Christians<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You know you’re not anywhere close to being as free as Jesus intends<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You know the difference between being obsessively busy and providentially busy<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: Your inwards groans are getting louder and your eager waiting more intense. Rom.8:23<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: “Rewards” means throwing crowns at Jesus’ feet, not better furniture for your “mansion”<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You give God all the credit and praise for chocolate<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: There are things you no longer do only because of your love for Jesus<\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: You want to trust again more than you want to stay stuck in your hurt<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sign you’re growing in grace: The older you get the more you remember stuff your parents actually did right<\/strong><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

What stood out to you?<\/p>\n

Anything you would add to the list?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been following 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 … Continue reading Signs your growing in grace<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[4092,751,4650,610,659,4087,286,4090,4091,4088,4089],"class_list":["post-7402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-misc","tag-scottywadesmith","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-growing-in-grace","tag-jesus","tag-scotty-smith","tag-scotty-wade-smith","tag-signs","tag-wonders"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-content\/uploads\/growinggrace.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-1Vo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}