Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney

Humility: True Greatness

I’ve always enjoyed reading C. J. Mahaney, that to say I’ve only read his book “Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Focus” and I thoroughly enjoyed that, reading it a few times.

C. J. Mahaney starts off with an introduction, fairly short about pride being one of the most deadly sins. Pride is serious, judging by the way he talks about the importance of getting rid of it. Especially when he says “The real issue here is not if pride exists in your heart; it’s where pride exists and how pride is being expressed in your life”. He then encourages you to change the way you pray about it. Instead of praying “’I was proud in that situation’ and appealing for His forgiveness, {we should pray} ‘Lord, in that moment, with that attitude, and that action, I was contending for supremacy with You. That’s what it was all about. Forgive me.’” Pride is something serious, not some joke. How do you get rid of it?

Ending your day – “the end of each day offers us a unique opportunity to cultivate humility and weaken pride, as well as to sense God’s pleasure. How? By reviewing our day and carefully assigning all glory to God for the grace we’ve experienced that day.” Of course this is a practice that should happen through out the day as well. People encourage you, so then you have the opportunity to redirect the glory to God. Thank them, and then quietly give the glory to God.

The idea of God’s self-sufficiency really stuck out to me. “Apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist”. There is absolutely no way apart from God that we can exist. God leaves, we die. Not that God would leave, but I think that produces a good picture. He is like a life-support system. We are completely and utterly dependant on Him, so to think that we can do anything on our own is completely and utterly absurd. I need water, God created it so I need God to have water. Same with food, or things to make shelter, and the same goes with the beating heart inside of me.

Evidences of Grace

When confronting someone, you need to do it in love right? And if you angry at them, its very hard to do. So, first acknowledge attributes about them that God has been working in. Develop a love for them so that you can confront them and love them, and have a ‘righteous anger’ about the sin they need fixing in their lives. Don’t forget about the log in yours though.

This book was a real challenge to read with the thoughts of “do I have this in my own life?” Or “what do I need to fix?” It is always a constant challenge to read books like these, especially since I went through a time in my life where I was prideful, yet I didn’t know. I find it very disappointing when people see pride in your life but don’t tell you, then later complain about it. This happened to me, and it hurts. You cannot fix something that you are not aware of. There was a brief section in this book about the importance of accountability. This is something I want, and although I have many friends who check up on me every once in a while, I don’t have the consistency of someone asking me all the time. This is hard to get since I’m moving around a lot with school, work, home etc. However, its something that I look for daily, and part of the reason I’m very open. Letting people know that I’m approachable about anything makes it easier for people to have the courage to come and tell me that I need to fix something in my life, without worry of me biting their head off. Below are some notes I took on the book; parts that stood out to me the most

Daily Ideas

1. Reflect on the wonder of the cross

Beginning your day

1. Acknowledge your dependence on God and your need for God.

2. Express your gratefulness to God

3. Practice spiritual disciplines (Prayer, Devotions, Worship)

4. Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on scripture

5. Cast your cares upon

Special focus items

1. Study the attributes of God

a. The incommunicable attributes – those which no human reflection or human illustration can be found. Attributes he doesn’t share with us.

i. Infinite

ii. Omnipresent

iii. Self-sufficient

2. Study the doctrines of grace

a. Election, calling, justification, perseverance

3. Study the doctrine of sin

a. “how often do you think about the fact that you carry around in you a deadly companion?” Kris Lungard

Characteristics of anyone who’s truly humble before God (From Habakkuk)

1. Prayerful before God

2. Waiting on God

3. Rejoicing in God