Humility: True Greatness

by C.J. Mahaney

Book Overview

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." --1 Peter 5:5 A battle rages within every one of us every day. It's the clash between our sense of stubborn self-sufficiency and God's call to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590523261
• ISBN13: 9781590523261
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Multnomah Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Read

I learned some things reading this book. Recommended if u want to grow spiritually.

Humility: True Greatness causes you to take a deep search into your heart.

This book will take you into a deeper walk with a personal God. It’s so worth the read. In fact get two because you won’t want to be without a copy and you will want to share it!!

Another home run by Mahaney!

C.J. Mahaney's latest book, Humility: True Greatness, is an amazing challenge to believers to think seriously about how much weight God has placed on humility. The challenge of this book springboards from Isaiah 66:2, "This is the one whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." As the title hints at, Mahaney has put together a concise and practical book that calls us to seek humility, which is how God defines true greatness. The author has a clear, yet personable writing style and Humility is a prime example. He tackles such topics as defining biblical humility ("Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness." p. 22) and pride ("Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him." p. 31). Mahaney also does a wonderful job giving practical encouragements of how to foster humility in our daily lives: through prayer, acting in grace toward others, and opening oneself up for correction. There is even a checklist summary of practical things we can do to strive after humility at the end of the book. Of course, a lot more could have been written, but an exhaustive manifesto on humility does not seem to be Mahaney's ambition. Rather, this excellent book is a crisp, if not humble, approach to a hugely important topic in the life of a Christ-follower. All in all, Mahaney has hit another home run. I can't imagine any believer not being challenge by this convicting and gracious book. He has such an accessible style that many readers will be able to devour Humility in one sitting. I would recommend that you go at a slower pace and let these powerful challenges transform your life. In fact, I've already bought several copies that I have been doling out to my coworkers. Thanks C.J. - please keep books like this coming! - Todd Burgett, Christian Book Previews.com

Read this book and be broken...

I thought, wow, this is going to be a great book. I wasn't prepared for what I got. A book that broke me, that had me on my knees, that used the word of God to pierce between my joints and marrow. Flawless theology, intensely practical, powerfully written. I feel I do the book an injustice by trying to describe or summarize it at all, so a sentence from the epilogue will do: Ultimately, there can be no effective expansion of your life's mission and ministry, no fulfillment of the specific purpose He's called you to, apart from the cultivation of humility in your heart and the weakening of pride in your life. Let this book be a tool that the Spirit uses to expose the pervasiveness and perversity of pride in your life and challenge you to turn in humility and repentance to a gracious God.

Essential reading for Christians

C. J. Mahaney has done it again. He has written three other books that have all hit the mark in terms of insightful teaching that is characterized by fidelity to the Bible and practical application to life today (his others are: The Cross-Centered Life; Christ, Our Mediator; Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God). Humility: True Greatness is no different. Here he brings to light the Scripture's teaching on the damning sinfulness of pride, and the glorious attractiveness of humility. The book contains the following chapters: Part 1: Our Greatest Friend, Our Greatest Enemy - The Promise of Humility - The Perils of Pride Part 2: The Great Reversal - Greatness Redefined - Greatness Demonstrated Part 3: Our Great Pursuit - As Each Day Begins - As Each Day Ends - For Special Focus - Identifying Evidences of Grace - Encouraging Others - Inviting and Pursuing Correction - Responding Humbly to Trials - A Legacy of Greatness - A Final Word - How to Weaken Pride and Cultivate Humility: A List of Suggestions This book should be required reading for every Christian. Sadly today, our churches and larger denominational ministries foster a sense of pride and achievement. We must recover an understanding of true greatness if we want to see victory in the Christian life and true revival in our generation. Although, he would certainly deny it (as is clear, if you have ever had the privilege of hearing him speak) Mahaney himself is truly a humble man, and I believe that is one of the reasons he has been so mightily used by God. Buy the book, and get started learning humility.

Challenging and inspiring--a crucial book

Though Humility: True Greatness is small, its depth and impact are big. It's accessible but profound, rooted in Scripture yet intensely practical. And there isn't a single one of us who couldn't benefit from its message. As Mahaney points out: "The sad fact is that none of us are immune from the logic-defying, blinding effects of pride. Though it shows up in different forms and to differing degrees, it infects us all." Mahaney begins by making the case for how crucial this topic really is. He then takes a unique angle that I really appreciated. I always thought pursuing humility was important simply because the opposite, pride, was so abominable. But although Mahaney doesn't mince words about the seriousness of pride, he also turns attention to the positive: Humility is something to cultivate because of the promise it offers ("God gives grace to the humble"), not just because of the curse its alternative brings. Mahaney's self-deprecating humor and honesty about his own struggles with pride make him relatable and credible. He often anticipated my questions and objections with powerful illustrations of pride in his own life. And his disclaimers that he's unqualified to write a book about humility, combined with his friends' and family's endorsements of his humble spirit, only add to his credibility. More than once, he caught me with a direct hit--describing my prideful thoughts or heart attitudes with startling exactness. Yet Mahaney isn't out to beat you down and discourage you. Part of the beauty of the book is the thread of the gospel woven throughout. Over and over, he brings you back to the grace and mercy of the cross. One of the most powerful things I learned from this book was that having a correct definition of "greatness" and a perfect example to follow (Jesus) is not enough for me to attain humility. I can't be great unless I imitate Christ...but I can't imitate Christ apart from the cross. Only Christ's death--His sacrifice to ransom us from sin--will set us free from pride and enable us to be humble. Understanding that is the key to toppling pride. It all comes back to the cross--the foundation of Mahaney's life and ministry and the core of this book. Once he has laid the theological groundwork, Mahaney gets extremely practical. Pride must be actively fought; humility must be intentionally cultivated. This character development isn't just going to happen as we read the book--it's going to take work. So the second half of the book lays out specific steps to take--at the beginning and end of each day, throughout the day, and occasional practices. Each chapter challenged and inspired me. This book was a crucial one for me--one I know I'll need to read more than once. There are a lot of ways you could spend ten dollars, but I'm confident that spending it on this book will be a powerful way for you to invite God to shape you more into the image of His humble Son.

Perhaps Mahaney's Best So Far

There is a certain irony in the pursuit of humility. We see a glimpse of that in the title of this book, Humility: True Greatness. Humility is true greatness. The pursuit of humility and the pursuit of greatness are one and the same, provided that we seek greatness as defined by the Creator. I have never met C.J. Mahaney (though hope to some day), but from all accounts he is well-qualified to write a book on such a difficult subject. And this is a difficult topic. After all, how can a person write a book on humility without sounding like he feels he is most qualified? The truth is he can, provided he uses the Scripture as the foundation for his teaching. And that is exactly what Mahaney does. The book is divided into three sections. Part one deals with the battle of humility versus pride, part two with our Savior and the secret of true greatness and part three with the practice of true humility. In the first part, Mahaney defines humility and shows how true humility is nothing less than a battle against the pride that lives deep within every heart. "Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in the light of God's holiness and our sinfulness." These two realities must be the foundation of any definition of humility: our sinfulness and God's holiness. This is precisely why true greatness can only be achieved by followers of Jesus Christ, for only they have had their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit to see the depth of their own depravity and the overwhelming holiness of God. Mahaney teaches, rightly I believe, that God hates the sin of pride above all other sin. This is a sin that plagues all humans, though it manifests itself in different ways. So the issue facing the believer is he examines his life is not if pride is present, but where it is present. For most of us it is deeply ingrained in our lives and only a great amount of Spirit-guided self-examination can draw it to the surface. In the second part, Mahaney defines greatness as Jesus did, showing that being great means being a servant to everyone. Just as Jesus came to serve, so must we serve with our lives. Christ lived as the perfect example of humble service. As in all his books, Mahaney leads the reader to the cross, stating that apart from Christ's sacrifice, there is no serving. We can only attain true greatness by emulating Christ's example - the example that led him to the cross where He made the greatest sacrifice. In the third and final part of the book Mahaney builds on the foundation he has built through Scripture to provide advice on the practice of humility. This is far more than a bullet list of do's and don'ts. It is far more than a false, monastic humility that is really no humility at all. Instead, he examines several different areas of life and shows how humility can be applied to all of them. From the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep (and even while we are asleep) we can practice humility. Whether we experience joy or pain, whether we are correcting or bei