God’s Electing Grace – Humbling Us To The Dust

What are the practical implications of Calvinism, particularly the doctrine of election? God’s sovereign electing grace, like all Biblical truth properly understood and responded to, should and will have powerful applicatory sanctifying effects upon the heart and mind. The end of all Biblical instruction is the transformation of our lives, to the supreme end that God Himself is glorified. And one of the effects of unconditional election upon the life of those who have experienced it and realize its significance, is humility--it should humble us to the dust.

The following quote speaks pointedly to this:

Rather than promoting pride and elitism, election is a profoundly humbling doctrine for believers. It keeps us from trying to reverse roles with God (Rom. 9:6-23). It persuades us to let God be God by teaching us there are some things that God has not revealed to us because they are not good for us to know, such as who is elect and who is reprobate (Deut. 29:29) or what tomorrow might bring (James 4:14). Election teaches us not to occupy ourselves with matters too difficult for us (Ps. 131).

Election also humbles us by making us realize that we owe everything to God’s grace. If our eyes have been opened, we see that our salvation is entirely due to the sovereign love and pity of our God, and not to any merit of our own. Electing grace initiates our salvation, accomplishes it, and preserves it. Peter says in (1 Pet. 1) verse 5 that we are “kept by the power of God.” Thus, we can boast of nothing. "A proud Calvinist is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms," Robert Peterson notes.

Dear believer, in electing you, God has given you everything. He has given you His Son, and through Him a new heart, a new status, and a new life. Humble yourself quietly before your electing God, remembering that you owe everything to Him. (Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, pgs. 69-70)

Is humility a grace that we are genuinely pursuing, and in some real way exhibiting, both in response to God and in relation to each other? I don’t mean merely that we recognize it as a good idea. But rather, is the reality and awareness of God’s absolute and comprehensive sovereignty, a sovereignty that extends even to our personal destiny--both in this life and for eternity--having its prostrating, dust encountering effects in how we live each day? In what specific ways should this posture of humility be increasingly evident in our lives?

And remember, a proud Calvinist is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.