pride & vanity - in practice

In pride & vanity - the basics (according to me!!), we considered the need to split pride & vanity into two unique demons of the soul. Given their individual nature, it would make sense that each needs addressing in a different way. Having started us off down this path, Finding Happiness continues in this way.

As a counter to vanity, the Abbot introduces magnanimity & defines it as follows

The word comes from the Latin magnus animus meaning literally a large mind or more colloquially a big heart

Practically, this manifests itself as me delighting in & praising others for no other reason than those themselves, expecting nothing in return. I find myself able to grasp & (at times) practice this!

Not surprisingly, Finding Happiness also introduces humility as the counter to pride. I find that far more difficult to define, let alone embrace & practice. C J Mahaney's Humility, True Greatness has helped me on this front.

He zones in, firstly on daily practices & then some focused ways to help embrace humility. The whole book is worthy of comment but what follows are my highlights.

Daily practices

1) Reflect on the wonder of the cross - for me, this is best captured as regular confession of sin

to truly be serious and deliberate in mortifying pride and cultivating greatness, you must each day survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died 

every time we look at the cross Christ seems to be saying to us, "I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying" 

all of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size

2) Begin your day expressing gratitude to God - for me, this is best captured as regular counting of my blessings

3) Begin your day acknowledging your need of God

4) Practice spiritual disciplines

5) Seize your commute

6) Cast your cares upon Him

7) Avoid cosmic plagiarism

whatever success you experience in your life and ministry and vocation, learn to immediately transfer the glory to Him

8) Accept the gift of sleep

Special focus ways to weaken pride & cultivate humility

1) Study the attributes of God

"apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be; I do need God in order for me to be." R C Sproul 

"by the grace of God I am what I am, but God says absolutely...I am that I am" Matthew Henry

2) Study the doctrines of grace

the doctrines of grace leave no room for self-congratulation, no room for self-glorification 

our calling upon Him was preceded and made possible by His calling us! That's humbling

3) Study the doctrine of sin

the ultimate effect from such hardening by sin is that grace, for the Christian, is no longer amazing

I haven't gone into much detail in this post, the reality is you may need to do your own leg work & for my part, I want to get to the final part of this mini-series & then move on. I'm hoping I can turn my current draft into a finished article before we depart for our family holidays!

Any prayers on that front would be welcome, since, I believe this next post is an important chapter end for me & one of the key aspects of my August experience.

Jonathan