where no one else can see how self-absorbed we are, working hard to project humility and graciousness -- outer goodness, so we'll appear good to others, AND to ourselves. Self-deceived, not self-aware. We're all failures at following Jesus, at being humble, gracious lovers of others on the INside, especially our enemies -- humans with very-different values than our own. We love secretly critiquing everyone and everything. Pride, not humility.
Jesus came for failures, not successes, for the unrighteous, not the righteous. We QUALIFY for His grace. But the only Christians who momentarily experience the benefit of Jesus in this life, realize what big failures we are, and CONFESS each time the Spirit opens our eyes to see the awful truth about ourselves. Trying harder to be humble is an exercise in futility.
-- Dave McCarty, GospelFriendshps, needing fresh Gospel-awareness, self-awareness, and sovereignty-awareness, by the convicting work of the Spirit, that he might ooze with the other-worldly humility and other-worldly love compelling to seculars
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