C. J. Mahaney Quotations

The presence of any humility in my life is purely and completely an evidence of God's grace. From my perspective, I am not a humble man. I am a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God.

I find myself so easily discouraged. It is pathetic how easily I can be discouraged - easily discouraged by resistance, easily discouraged by opposition, easily discouraged by hardness of heart, easily discouraged by blindness.

Pastoral ministry is a sacrificial call with unique challenges. We are called to take the Gospel to those with hard hearts and blind eyes.

Endurance in ministry is rooted in the eternal perspective. The absence of an eternal perspective makes you vulnerable to losing heart.

It is true that I have been studying both humility and pride for many years for the purpose of weakening pride in my own life and cultivating humility by the grace of God.

Pastoral ministry is about an ongoing confrontation with the god of this world, with blindness, hardness of heart, remaining sin.

Over the years, I have studied church history as well as the contemporary church, and I noticed how rare it is for a God-glorifying transition of leadership to take place in a local church.

Apart from the cross, condemnation is normal. Without Jesus, we all deserve to be condemned and punished for sin. But here's the good news: 'There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus'.

Individuals motivated by self-interest, self-indulgence, and a false sense of self-sufficiency pursue selfish ambition for the purpose of self-glorification.

It was humanly impossible for the disciples to free themselves from their selfish pursuit of self-exaltation, just as it's impossible for us to free ourselves from the very same sins.

To learn true humility, we need more than a redefinition of greatness; we need even more than Jesus' personal example of humble service. What we need is His death.

So make it your aim and lifelong habit, when you see someone who's serving, to be reminded of the sacrifice of the Savior, for apart from His sacrifice there is no serving.

What joy the gospel gives me! I can approach the throne of God with confidence-not because I've done a good job at my spiritual duties, but because I'm clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

The weakest believer and the strongest saint are alike equally justified. Justification admits no degrees. A man is either wholly justified or wholly condemned in the sight of God.

Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Sunday is the best day of the week because we celebrate the risen Christ of the cross in the local church, the dearest place on earth.

A cross centered life is made up of cross centered days.

Modesty is humility expressed in dress.

No matter the severity of suffering we experience in this life, it will always be less that what we have deserved for our sins

Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.

Read, but not to remember everything. Read because that 1% that you remember has the potential to change your life.

Pride takes innumerable forms but has only one end: self-glorification. That’s the motive and ultimate purpose of pride—to rob God of legitimate glory and to pursue self-glorification, contending for supremacy with Him. The proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God, thereby attempting in effect to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive

As we mature personally, as our families mature, and as our churches mature, we need the doctrine of sin more, not less; and we need to keep growing in rightly understanding and applying this doctrine. Be assured that this is no less true if you're a pastor or teacher or ministry worker. There's no pastoral privilege in relation to sin. There's no ministry exemption from the opposition of the flesh. There's only a heightened responsibility to oppose sin and to weaken the flesh, as an example to the flock.

But the very act of pausing in a busy day to pray is an act of weakening pride in my life, acknowledging that I am a dependent creature. I am not self sufficient.

If you crossed Matthew Henry's path, you would quickly realize that here was someone taking thankful notice of all God was doing for him, and doing so in an attractively joyful way that was infectious.

The biblical purpose of every conversation you have, in every personal interaction, is that they person who hears you will receive grace.

The personal desolation Christ is experiencing on the cross is what you and I should be experiencing--but instead, Jesus is bearing it, and bearing it all alone. Why alone? He's alone so that we might never be alone.

Encourage others each and every day-nothing's more important than our words. Did you know that, on average, each of us speaks about twenty-five thousand words daily? My last book didn't have that many words. A lot of language is flowing out of our mouths every day and having an impact on those around us. But how much of that flow is fulfilling God's intended purpose for our speech? How much of it reflects pride, rather than a gospel-motivated humility?

In order for romance to deepen, you must touch the heart and mind of your wife before you touch her body.

We cannot free ourselves from pride and selfish ambition; a divine rescue is absolutely necessary.

To grow in your passion for what Jesus has done, increase your understanding of what He has done.

Never be content with your current grasp of the gospel.

All gifts from God are intended to direct our attention to God and create fresh affection for God.

Encourage others each and every day-nothing's more important than our words.

Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you don’t really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross.

Reminding ourselves of the gospel is the most important daily habit we can establish.

Never be content with your current grasp of the gospel. The gospel is the life-permeating, world-altering, universe-changing truth. It has more facets than a diamond. It's depths man will never exhaust.

It’s not 'those who help themselves' whom God helps; it’s those who humble themselves.

Your greatest need is not a spouse. Your greatest need is to be delivered from the wrath of God - and that has already been accomplished for you through the death and resurrection of Christ. So why doubt that God will provide a much, much lesser need? Trust His sovereignty, trust His wisdom, trust His love.

We make time for what we truly value. We build habits and routines around the things that really matter to us. This is an important principle to understand as we seek to build our lives around the gospel. Do you want a cross centered life? A cross centered life is made up of cross centered days.

Effective teaching involves explaining to our children what they're already observing in our lives by example.

Before we can begin to see the cross as something done FOR us, leading us to faith and worship, we have to see it as something done BY us, leading us to repentance. Only the man or woman who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross may claim his share in its grace.

We don't accidentally drift into holiness; rather we mature gradually and purposefully, one choice at a time.

If there's anything in life that we should be passionate about, it's the gospel. And I don't mean passionate only about sharing it with others. I mean passionate about thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.

Only those who are truly aware of their sin can truly cherish grace.

Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.