In John Piper's moving explanation for his upcoming leave of absence, he acknowledged pride in his life:
But on the other hand, I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me. How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody?
This touching acknowledgment of pride made me think about something he mentioned in a sermon about greatness and humility several months back:
A Yearlong Focus and Lifelong Passion. One evidence of how crucial we feel this to be is that the pastoral staff small groups this coming year will be reading and praying over and applying C. J. Mahaney’s book Humility: True Greatness. The five of us who lead those small groups agreed on this so that the quest to put to death our pride and all its ugly fruit would not be a passing interest with this sermon, but a yearlong focus for us—and then a lifelong passion.
I have no idea how God used the small-group study of Humility to sanctify Pastor John and others in the group. But it made me know that I want to let the good books I read really have an effect on my life. God is doing a million X a million things in ordaining that we pick up a godly book to read. And when he moved men of God to write them.
On my shelf right now I have three unread books that could change everything if I take them as seriously as I imagine John Piper takes a book like Mahaney's: DA Carson's A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Richard Phillips The Masculine Mandate, and Timothy Witmer's The Shepherd Leader.
What books are on your shelf? Will they make it to your life?
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