• You get defensive at the first sign of criticism or correction. Proverbs 13:1 says, "A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke." A humble man eagerly receives rebuke, correction, and criticism. I on the other hand, am quick to be defensive. What about you? When you receive correction from others at work, or at church, or in the family, how do you respond?
  

• You are quick to speak and slow to listen. Proverbs 18:2 says, "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." I'm often not interested in others or what others have to say, but only in voicing my own opinion. The humble person on the other hand, is slow to speak and eager to hear the input and wisdom of others. When you're with other people, are you quick to voice your own opinion, or are you eager to hear the opinions of others?
  

• You're convinced that you're always right. Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." I'm very proud, which in turn causes me to be certain that I'm right in all situations, at all times. The humble person is keenly aware of their blind spots, and aware that they could be wrong. When a debate arises, are you convinced that your way is the right way?
  

• You're quick to criticize and slow to encourage. I'm aware of people's deficiencies and unaware of God's grace at work in people's lives. The result? Much criticism and little encouragement. The humble person however can identify with Paul when he said, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." (1 Tim 1:15) Are you more aware of people's faults or the grace of God at work in their life?

• You become overwhelmed when life gets chaotic. When life gets chaotic and I'm loaded down with responsibilities, I can be easily overwhelmed. Why? Because I'm self-sufficient. In my pride, I rely on my own strength to carry out my plans. However, when things get chaotic, I get anxious. The humble person depends on God to carry out and execute plans, and thus experiences God's peace.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

I'm not much of a fighter. Yes, I have a punching bag in my basement, and yes I sing the "Rocky" theme song when I punch it, but in general I'm not a fighter. In high school, I never got into fights. Of course that was because I was home schooled, but if I had been in public school I don't think I would have gotten into fights. I like movies that have long, extended, manly fight scenes, such as "The Bourne Supremacy", but I could never do anything like that. But recently I did get into a fight, a fight with God as a matter of fact. I took on God as my opponent.

Several days ago I was in a meeting with my dad and the other pastor on staff at our church. During the meeting, the three of us were discussing the best way to approach a certain situation. My dad wanted to do it one way and I wanted to do it another way. My dad, who is significantly wiser than I am, had the better way. But in my pride, I was totally convinced that my way was the right way, and that he was being a fool for not seeing it my way. In reality, I was the fool. But God was kind enough to convict me of my sin and lead me to repentance, and now I see that my dad's way was indeed the better way.

James 4:6 says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." To say that I was proud during the pastoral meeting is a colossal understatement. I was massively arrogant. James tells me that God won't tolerate my pride. In fact, when I'm proud I am taking on God as my opponent. When I am proud I am engaging in a head to head battle with God Himself, for God opposes the proud. And I don't want God as my opponent.

The opposite of pride is humility, and it is to the humble that God gives grace. If I want to experience the grace of God I must be humble. Oh how I want to experience the grace of God! Do you want to experience the grace of God? Do want your daily experience to be one of experiencing God's grace? Then pursue humility. Pursue it daily, regularly, consistently. Meditate on this verse from James. Read C.J. Mahaney's book "Humility". Confess areas of pride to your spouse, friends, and pastors. If you do, you will experience the grace of God. Otherwise, you will have God as your opponent.

I recently made a startling discovery: I'm blind. Oh I can still see things. I can see my scooter sitting in the church parking lot, the very essence of glory. I can see the haze in the air that causes me to burst into a sweaty mess the moment I step out of my air conditioned office. I can see that my little finger is bent kind of funny because I dislocated it playing softball last year. But the truth is, I'm blind.

Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." This proverb describes a person that is blinded by their pride, blinded to the point of being convinced that they're always right. This proverb perfectly describes me. Does it describe you?

Let me give you an example from my life. I recently had the privilege of preaching at my church. After my sermon, I asked my friend and fellow pastor, Joe, to give me input and suggestions for my message. In a kind and gentle way, Joe gave me several excellent suggestions as to how I might preach God's word more effectively. No big deal, right? Wrong. The moment Joe began speaking, my heart began to rage within me. I was convinced that I didn't need to hear what he was saying, didn't need his advice, didn't need any helpful suggestions. I can count the number of times I've preached on two hands, and Joe has preached many more times than I have. Yet I was thoroughly convinced that I had preached an outstanding message that had absolutely no room for improvement. I was blinded by my pride, and I was a fool.

Can you relate to me? Are you being a fool in any ways? How about at home? When your spouse or children or parents correct you, how do you respond? When they give you a suggestion, what is your initial reaction? Are you eager to listen, or quick to defend yourself? Do you invite correction, or raise barriers? How about at work? When a coworker suggests how you might improve a project, what goes on in your heart? Only a fool believes that he or she is always right. Don't be a fool like me.

Let these words of D. Martyn Lloyd Jones affect you today when you are tempted to feel despondent or discouraged.

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: 'Why art thou cast down' - what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: 'Hope thou in God' - instead of muttering in this depressed unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.

As a follow up to yesterday's post, here are a few practical tips for better blog reading.

Clean Out Your Reader
If you're like me, you blog reader can become obscenely cluttered. I see a blog that looks mildly interesting, click on the 'subscribe' button, and "bang" (it really makes that noise) it shows up in my feed reader. The result? I end up with information overload. I'm forced to skim lots of blogs without really getting anything out of any of them. If this describes you, do a purge on your blog reader so that you're only focusing on blogs that are important to you. Currently my blog reader contains ten feeds, which is very manageable for me.

Do Some Real Reading
The tendency with blog reading is to skim, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, if blog reading is to have any real value in our life, we need to do some real reading. Find one or two well written, God-centered, Christ-exalting blogs and read them faithfully every day. For me this looks like reading Al Mohler's blog every day. Other possibilities: Challies, Between Two Worlds, Desiring God, Josh Harris.

Do Some Skim Reading
Okay, I know this sounds like I'm contradicting myself, but there is a place for skim reading blogs. I can do a quick skim of the blogs that really matter to me to see if there is anything that I should stop and read. And of course some blogs lend themselves to this more than others. For example, I subscribe to a number of 'productivity' blogs. It's easy to scan these for any useful information.

Subscribe To One Secular Blog
There are a number of blogs written by non-Christians that are a means of common grace to me. As I mentioned, I like reading blogs that focus on productivity. Most of these blogs aren't written by Christians, and yet by reading them I've gained some great ideas on how I can be more effective in serving the Lord. Using discernment, find one secular blog that you think will motivate or inspire you. Examples: Lifehacker, Life Remix (Note: I don't endorse all the content on these sites)

Take Everything With A Grain Of Salt
The blogosphere is full of opinions and ideas. Some are good, some are terrible, and some are heretical. Before you read a blog, read your Bible. By doing this you'll gain discernment, which will help you navigate the murky waters of the blogosphere.

These are just my opinions on blog reading. I hope you find them helpful...

Bob Kauflin and Tim Challies recently wrote excellent posts on the place of reading in the life of a Christian and I would encourage you to read both posts. As a fellow lover of books, I thought I would add a couple of practical suggestions on what types of books to read. So here they are in no particular order.

Read Books By Dead People
We have a tendency to love what's new and current. We like books that talk about new ideas, books by new authors, and books with new covers. We're anxious to get the latest book by our favorite author. But in all our zeal for new books, we can miss out on the wisdom and insight of men and women that have been dead for hundreds of years. Hear the words of C.S. Lewis:

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.

This is part two of "The Work of Christ" series.

What would happen if you were in an accident and couldn't read your Bible, or attend church, or fellowship with the saints for two months? What would happen if you were bedridden for the rest of your life and could no longer participate in "your ministry". How would you feel if you couldn't write, or teach children's ministry, or sing on a worship team, or preach, or go on missions trips for the rest of your life? Would your confidence in God's love for you waver? Would you wonder if God was still pleased with you?

I recently read Philippians 3:3 and was forced to ask myself those same questions. It says, "For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh..." I'm strongly tempted to put my confidence in the flesh, or in other words, in the things that I do. If I read my Bible every day during the week, and post some encouraging things on this blog, and don't waste too much time watching television, and encourage at least one person in my small group, and serve my wife, than I feel pretty confident that God approves of me. But if I fail to do these things my confidence in God's love and approval can waver.

As I read Philippians 3:3, I was forced to ask myself, "Where is my confidence? Is it in myself, or in the glorious, finished, complete work of Christ?" The Apostle Paul refused to put confidence in himself. Paul, the charismatic church planter, the author of large portions of the New Testament, refused to trust in anything he accomplished to bring him into the favor of God. Paul rejected his own works and trusted passionately, joyfully, and wholeheartedly in the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. This was Paul's only hope for salvation and it is our only hope as well.

Friends, let us emulate Paul. Let us reject any hope we have in our good works and place our hope fully on the perfect work of Christ. Throw aside any hope you have in your works and cling to the cross of Christ. God isn't pleased with you because of your serving, or preaching, or blogging, or encouraging, or Bible reading. He is pleased with you because He is pleased with Christ.

Okay, I've got a confession to make: I'm a smuggler. There, I said it. I got it off my chest. No, I'm not a drug smuggler, I don't smuggle illegal immigrants across the border, and I don't smuggle candy into movie theaters (at least not anymore). I'm not like my Star Wars hero, Han Solo, smuggling illegal contraband through Imperial blockades. But I am a smuggler, and on a daily basis for that matter. I'm a works smuggler.

What exactly am I talking about? Listen to the words of Sinclair Ferguson and see if you can relate: "Our greatest temptation and mistake is to try to smuggle character into God’s work of grace." This is a very accurate description of me. On a daily basis I'm tempted to "smuggle" my works into the justifying work of God. I'm tempted to try and add my works of righteousness to the finished, perfect work of Jesus Christ. I'm tempted to believe that I can make myself more righteous in God's eyes by my spiritual performance. This, my friends, is a temptation that each of us faces on a daily basis, and we must fight against it if we are to please Christ.

How can you tell if you are a works smuggler? Take a moment and answer these questions:

• Do you feel that God accepts and delights in you more if you perform spiritual acts, such as reading your Bible, memorizing scripture, or praying?

• When you are convicted of sin, do you include works as part of your repentance? For example, after sinning, do you feel that you must pray for at least an hour to get back in God's good graces? Or do you feel like you need to read your Bible to get "clean" again?

• Do you always feel like you're disappointing God, and that you can never make Him happy?
  

Sermon downloads are now free at Sovereign Grace Ministries. Here are some must listen sermons from C.J. Mahaney:

A Biblical Understanding of Sleep - C.J. Mahaney. Click here to get it.

Cravings and Conflict - C.J. Mahaney. Click here to get it.

Enjoying Grace and Detecting Legalism - C.J. Mahaney. Click here to get it.

The Main Thing (Part 1) - C.J. Mahaney. Click here to get it.

The Main Thing (Part 2) - C.J. Mahaney. Click here to get it.

What has been one strategy that has helped you effectively memorize scripture?

I'm trying to get in the habit of memorizing scripture and would like to hear what has worked best for you.

This is part five in the "Preparing For Sunday" series.

Here are five examples of prayers you can pray to help prepare your heart for Sunday. We serve an incredibly gracious God who is eager to answer these prayers.

• Saturday night: "Oh Lord, please give me the gift of sleep right now, that I might awake refreshed and ready to meet with you. Give me the strength to rise early for the purpose of preparing my heart."
  

• Sunday morning before church: "Lord, open my eyes right now to see wonderful things in Your word. Fill me with Your Spirit now as I ready myself for church. Prepare my heart to sing songs of praise. Give me a soft heart to hear and apply Your word as it is preached."

• As the singing begins: "Lord draw my heart upward in worship to You. Warm my heart with affections for you, and guard me from singing with my lips but having a cold heart."

• As the preaching begins: "Lord give me a tender heart towards Your word. Let Your glorious truth grip my heart, and open my eyes to see Your glory. Guard me from the temptation of hearing Your word without applying it. Help me to listen with humility."

• At the conclusion of the service: "Lord give me grace now to fellowship with Your saints. My heart is selfish and would rather go home and sleep. Let me feel the very affection of Christ Jesus for these people. Help me to encourage them and build their faith for Your glory."
  

This is part four in the "Preparing For Sunday" series.

I had some teachers in college who were absolutely horrendous. They set world records for boringness, and I think they even bored themselves. They droned on and on in a monotone voice about things that mattered very little to me, such as the annual rainfall in Belize, or the formation of cumulus clouds (as you can see I had a weather class I disliked very much). By the end of each lecture, 90% of the class was either sleeping or had that glazed over look that comes with stupefying boredom. Paying attention was certainly optional.

But friends, paying attention to the preaching of God's word is never optional. Hear the words of Jesus in Mark 4:24, "And he said to them, 'Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.'" The preaching of God's word is a sacred, holy thing, and if we are to please God we must pay close attention to it.

Listening to God's word being preached is not the same as listening to a lecture on biology. A lecture on biology makes no claim on our lives. We have the option of applying or disregarding what we hear. But God's word always makes massive claims on our lives. God's word is always calling us to something, whether that be faith, repentance, joy, thankfulness, or humility. We don't have the option of applying God's word; we must apply God's word.

Another difference between a biology lecture and the preaching of God's word is the teacher himself. A biology teacher has been commissioned by a university to communicate information. A preacher has been commissioned by God Himself to proclaim glorious, life-changing, soul-stirring truth. When we fail to pay attention to the preached word, we fail to pay attention to God Himself.

So by God's grace, let us resolve to pay attention to the preaching of God's word. Let's do whatever is necessary to pay attention. Take notes, don't take notes, sit in the front, sit in the back, sit with other people, sit by yourself. Do what it takes to pay attention to the preaching of God's word, so that you might apply the truth to your life.

Friends, I have failed in this area so many times, yet I'm confident that God will help me change by His grace. He wants us to change more than we want to change, and He is eager to give us the grace that is necessary.

This is part three of the "Preparing For Sunday" series.

It's 7:42 on a Sunday morning, the birds are chirping outside, and you don't have to be at church until 10:00 am. You crawl out of bed, slide your feet into a pair of slippers, and wander downstairs to make a cup of coffee. After making your cup of morning wake-up-juice, you grab the newspaper off the front porch and settle down to read the arts and entertainment section. From there you move casually to the sports section, the food section, and finally the obituaries. By this time it's 8:49 am, and you have just enough time to hop into the shower, grab an onion bagel (and some mints), and head for church. Worship starts at exactly 10:01 am, and it's at that point you have your first thought about God that day.

Sound familiar? I've been through that routine many times. The result is that I arrive at church unprepared to meet with God. My heart is distracted, my thoughts are scattered, and I never fully engage during the service. But there is an alternative. To properly prepare for Sunday, we must meet with God before we meet with God. To prepare our hearts for corporate worship, we must spend time in private worship. It's crucial that we spend time in God's word and in prayer before we leave for church. Why? Because the battle with sin begins the moment we step out of bed on Sunday morning.

Our sinful flesh doesn't like church. No, let me rephrase. Our flesh hates church. Our sinful flesh is opposed to everything that is good and spiritual, and will make every effort to stop us from encountering God on Sunday morning. Our sinful hearts will try to condemn us during worship, distract us during the preaching of God's word, and keep us from fellowship after the service. And so we must prepare for this battle by meeting with God in His word and prayer. We must have our hearts refreshed and focused even before we worship corporately.

And so friends, let us prepare for Sunday mornings. Let's avoid the temptation to check our email or read the headlines, and let's make a concerted effort to meet with God before we meet with God.