Saturday, August 30, 2008

I'm ALMOST Finished!

I'm finally ALMOST done with the book Humility True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney. Outside of reading the Word, serving my family & the church, managing my home, participating in Bible Studies, I rarely have time to read anything else. I try to read at least a section before bed. Of course this is the time when I'm completely exhausted, so that's why it's taken me all summer to read a small, 174 page book!

Anyway, this book has definitely been life changing for me. Before reading the book, I already knew that I had a pride issue and desperately needed humility. So, I didn't need the book to prove that point to me. However, this book gave me so many practical ways of destroying the ugly pride in my life on my path to becoming more like my humble Savior.

The section that gave me the most insight was in Chapter 5 which had a "list of practical ways to weaken pride and cultivate humility." Below are the 6 ways that were discussed.

1. Reflect on the Wonder of the Cross
"Far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness, and we can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit." - John Stott (p.68)

2. Begin Your Day Acknowledging Your Need for God
"From the moment I awake, I've learned to make statements to God about my dependence upon God, and in this way I'm humbling myself before God." (p. 69)

3. Begin Your Day Expressing Gratitude to God
"Let each of us recognize every day that whatever grace we receive from God is so much more than we're worthy of, and indescribably better than the hell we all deserve." (p. 71)

4. Practice Spiritual Disciplines - Prayer, Study of God's Word, and Worship
"By quietly pausing to study and read and pray before launching my workday, I can be confident that I've taken a step to weaken pride and strengthen humility." (p. 73)

5. Seize Your Commute Time to Memorize and Meditate on Scripture
"Even if you don't have a long commute, there are countless other segments of time throughout the day that can be seized as opportunities to experience God's transforming grace by memorizing and meditating on Scripture." (p. 74)

6. Cast Your Cares Upon Him
"When there's worry, when there's anxiousness, pride is at the root of it. When I am experiencing anxiety, the root issue is that I'm trying to be self-sufficient. I'm acting independent of God." (p. 75)

I urge all of you to read this book if you haven't already done so. May God's truth pierce each place of pride in our hearts so we can reflect His beauty through humility.

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

3 comments:

chona said...

It sounds like a great book! I think I'll order it and share it when I'm done. It may take me just as long to complete! :) I have a hard time believing you have a pride issue, though!

Anonymous said...

Same here. I've been reading small snippets throughout the summer. I have a few more chapters to go. I was recently encouraged (convicted) to understand what it means to not let any unwholesome words come out of your mouth but only what is good for building up-even when correcting someone-give grace, give the Gospel!

Anonymous said...

okay...Caryn this is weird. I just posted the last comment and for some reason it came up that I am Ken Currie. I work with Ken here at BBC but my name is Tina Lowe. kinda strange? =)