I just finished maybe the most important book I have read in a long time, Humility True Greatness, by C.J. Mahaney. It is 175 pages but you could read it in a couple (few?) hours. The deception of this sin is terrifying. Please, for those of you who know me well, I’m asking that you will hold me accountable and point out my pride. God’s glory is at stake in my life. Here’s a sample of some things you’ll find in the book from Sovereign Grace Ministries.
This Is The One To Whom I Will Look
How to Daily Weaken Pride and Cultivate Humility
C.J. Mahaney
But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. 1 Peter 5:6
1) Begin the day acknowledging your dependence upon God and your confidence in God.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”
D Martin Lloyd Jones
Set the tone for your day by immediately speaking truth to yourself rather than listening to lies from yourself.
Let the truth of person and substitutionary work of Jesus Christ for your sins be where you begin your thoughts, meditation and declarations each day.
2) At the outset of each day express specific gratefulness to God.
Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.”
John Stott
An ungrateful person is a proud person. Throughout the day be an alert and thankful observer of the post it notes provided by God reminding you of common and saving grace. Remember, whatever grace you receive from God is far more than you deserve and whatever pain and suffering you experience is far less than you deserve.
3) Practice the Spiritual Disciplines
When we fail to wait prayerfully for God’s guidance and strength, we are saying, with our actions if not our lips, that we do not need him.”
Charles Hummel
Practicing the spiritual disciplines is daily declaration and demonstration of my need for God and my dependence upon God.
4) Seize Your Daily Commute as an Opportunity to Mediate on Scripture.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers: but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.”
Psalm 1:1-2
5) Throughout Each Day Cast Your Cares Upon Him.
Humble yourselves…casting ALL your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7
The humble are care free. Where there is worry, anxiety, anxiousness there is pride. Humility
The root of worry and anxiety is self-sufficiency. God gives grace to those who humble themselves and cast each and every care on him.
The effect of this act is the weakening of pride and the experience of peace and joy.
6) At the End of the Day Transfer the Glory to God
When we have done anything praiseworthy, we must hide ourselves under the veil of humility, and transfer the glory of all we have done to God.”
Thomas Watson
7) Before Falling Asleep Acknowledge the Purpose of Sleep
Prior to falling asleep each night seize this opportunity to acknowledge a purpose of sleep. The need for sleep is a daily reminder that we are creatures not the Creator, that we are not self-sufficient and that only God is self-sufficient. Only God neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Well stated. Yesterday I read the bio of Charles Simeon via John Piper in The Roots Of Endurance. He wrote:He grew downward in humiliation before God, and he grew upward in his adoration of Christ.Handley Moule captures the essence of Simeon’s secret of longevity in this sentence: “‘Before honor is humility,’ and he had been ‘growing downwards’ year by year under the stern discipline of difficulty met in the right way, the way of close and adoring communion with God” (Moule, 64). Those two things were the heartbeat of Simeon’s inner life: growing downward in humility and growing upward in adoring communion with God.But the remarkable thing about humiliation and adoration in the heart of Charles Simeon is that they were inseparable. Simeon was utterly unlike most of us today who think that we should get rid once and for all of feelings of vileness and unworthiness as soon as we can. For him, adoration only grew in the freshly plowed soil of humiliation for sin. So he actually labored to know his true sinfulness and his remaining corruption as a Christian.-John Piper, The Roots of Endurance
Simeon was utterly unlike most of us today who think that we should get rid once and for all of feelings of vileness and unworthiness as soon as we can. For him, adoration only grew in the freshly plowed soil of humiliation for sin. So he actually labored to know his true sinfulness and his remaining corruption as a Christian.Zach, thank you for this.
Thanks for the review, Matt. I’m anxious to read this.