Humility: True Greatness (by C.J. Mahaney)

Book Review.

Isaiah 66:2 “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” 

James 4:6 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

What? Another book review? I know, I know. Last time I said I hate reading books. I do. Before I lose my credibility as your average “I don’t have time to read” Jill, let me tell you: I haven’t finished Humility yet. [But that's because I have had to read a bunch of other books for deacon training and this was not on the 'required list' so it's been backlisted several times. Yep, really, I don't HAVE to read this book. I'm voluntarily reading it. And I don't like reading. Does that say something?]

Ok, so now in typical Adriel fashion, I will highlight a few elements from the book rather than give you the big picture (sorry globals). Maybe it will whet your appetite to read this book. It is worth it. This, and How People Change have been the two most formative books in my spiritual walk over the last several years (besides the Bible, of course. And what really made these two books come in line right behind the Bible is pretty much because they’re full of the Bible themselves, but with some commentary to help me understand better!)

Highlight 1. An excellent and disturbing definition of pride.

C. J. Mahaney clearly defines pride, biblically, and one of his quotes is seared in my mind and stops me dead in my tracks when I find myself acting pridefully.

What is pride? It’s an attempt to usurp God’s glory. And Mahaney’s personal testimony on not blanketing its rotting & violent evil under the impotent and nebulous term “pride” now convicts my heart also when I recognize my own prideful interactions with people:

For the purposes of personal confession … rather than just confessing to God that “I was proud in that situation” and appealing to His forgiveness, I learned instead to say, “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.”

And rather than confessing to another person, “That statement was prideful on my part; will you please forgive me?” I began saying, “What I just did was contending for supremacy with God,” and only then asking for the person’s forgiveness. This practice increased a weight of conviction in my heart about the seriousness of this sin.

Pride takes innumerable forms but has only one end: self-glorification. That’s the motive and ultimate purpose of pride - to rob God of legitimate glory and to pursue self-glorification… to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive.

No wonder God opposes pride. No wonder he hates pride. Let that truth sink into your thinking. (pages 31-32)

Highlight 2. Practical applications!!

While very clearly stating that he was not saying people needed to “do it my way,” Mahaney shares what he has developed to practice growing humility and attacking pride in his life. He says many times throughout the book that humility is our greatest ally, and pride is our greatest enemy; and we need to work both sides. Humility must be encouraged and grown; pride must be strategically mortified.

He has a chapter called “in the morning” and talks about using your commute time, taking control of your waking thoughts and making them submit to Christ, etc. He also has a chapter called “in the evening” that includes thanking God for sleep and its portrait of our dependence on him (we need sleep; there’s nothing we can do to control that, we have to sleep, every night. God neither dozes off nor sleeps. We are the finite & frail creation; he is the infinite and mighty Creator). I LOVE these sections.

Highlight 3. C. J. Mahaney’s written voice.

C. J. Mahaney will tell you that he is a prideful person, but reading this book has illustrated otherwise; he writes openly and honestly, without any stuffiness, but with boldness and confidence in Christ. I am thankful to Jesus that he wrote this and that it is helping me in the transformation of my heart to one that is more like Christ’s.

He is the most biblical, firm-but-kind author I have read. I am used to either flimsy psych-pop writing that dances around the gravity of sin, or a fire-and-brimstone ‘YOU SUCK!’ style that leaves me feeling more jarred than loved. He is very gracious to the reader, and while I was expecting to only feel pain from the conviction this book brought, I was surprised. This deep, rich bubbly feeling in my stomach rose at the conviction that my God LOVES me and CARES for me (the section on sleep, especially). And when I say deep, I mean it wasn’t just a ‘feeling’ - he had verses, and having my biblically-submitted mind already on board with what my heart wants to pledge allegiance to … well, that is a wonderful thing.

I am still working on this book, but I have already gained so many treasures. I would recommend it as a devotional type; bite off a little at a time and really let it sink in. It’s one that you will come back to, unbidden.

And I am pretty darn sure it is available at the resource center in Ballard. (If you know, will you leave a comment to confirm?)

Thanks for listening.