Leadership Library Spotlight
by on Nov 13th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Book: Humility: True Greatness
Author: C. J. Mahaney
"God is decisively drawn to humility. The person who is humble is the one who draws God’s attention, and in this sense, drawing His attention means also attracting His grace – His unmerited kindness. Think about that: There’s something you can do to attract more of God’s gracious, undeserved, supernatural strength and assistance!"
- C. J. Mahaney, Humility, p. 20
Talking about humility can be as difficult as trying to define time. We know what it looks like in action, we are familiar with its attributes, but actually putting into words what humility is exactly proves exceptionally difficult. C. J. Mahaney has pulled off one of the better descriptions of it in this book, and his writing comes directly from his humble life and posture.
Humility is achieved by the combination of intense consideration, consideration of God’s glory and our folly, and practice, practice which involves rightly aligning our actions with the truth of who we are and who He is. Mahaney’s book will walk you through both aspects in a way that is personal and simple. He does not waste ink or paper in explaining his points, which means that this book is short and sweet. Yet, you will find that additional readings will unveil new insights.
We all battle with pride. When man’s pride is threatened or wounded, our response to such wounds and threats can be brutal as well as ridiculous. It rots our relationships with family, friends, coworkers, strangers, and opponents. Use some hindsight on some of the greatest relational disasters in your life and pride will be a common theme throughout all of them.
The worst reality of pride is that, as Mahaney rightly pronounces, we “contend for the supremacy of God” whenever we exercise it. Humility is our antidote to battling pride, but it demands surrender before God, allowing Him to have supremacy and glory in all that we think, say, do, and refrain from doing. Mahaney’s book serves as a fresh and challenging reminder to the issue of humility. Besides, he actually commands us to play golf so you can use it as a legitimate excuse!
1 Mahaney, Humility, 31-32.