I’m currently rereading C. J. Mahaney’s book Humility: True Greatness because I’m a proud man and through the grace of Christ I want to crush my pride and manifest humility in my life.  Just recently I have had several incredible opportunities to exemplify humility, but instead chose to exemplify pride, which made me realize that I wasn’t doing the very thing C. J. so adamantly and continuously writes about in his book.  And that is that there must be an intentional effort on my part to pursue humility.  As John Stott said, “in every step of our Christian growth and maturity, and throughout every aspect of our Christian obedience and service, our greatest foe is pride and our greatest ally is humility” (pp. 64).   Thus, I’d like to briefly share his list of things he does (1) at the beginning of each day and (2) at the end of each day. 

At the beginning of each day:

• Reflect on the wonder of the cross
• Begin your day acknowledging your need for God
• Begin your day expressing gratitude to God
• Practice spiritual disciplines
• Seize your commute
• Cast your cares upon Him
• Staying charged up – live out a spirit of prayer

As each day ends:

• Avoid cosmic plagiarism – by grace, intentionally transfer the glory to God (don’t steal it)
• Accept the gift of sleep (he sustains you through the night – a picture of what it’s like to belong to Christ)

Understanding that God is actively opposed to the proud in heart has opened my eyes to the real possibility that God might be opposed to me more frequently than He’s for me (i.e. giving me grace). Why?  Because I’m a proud man.  And whatever good thing is brought into my life or whatever God allows me to enjoy or allows me to do, it’s in spite of who I am.  Hopefully, through the Spirit of God I become more intentional in my pursuit of humility and in doing so, crush my pride.