I want to be the Johnny Appleseed of magnanimity.  My one ambition in life is to plant that one seed again and again wherever I go.  Yes, I know magnanimity’s a big word, but don’t be intimidated!  Literally, it means “great soul.”  I am convinced, though, that recovering this one virtue is crucial if we’re to survive our age of self-esteem and “following your heart” (there’s both a healthy way and an unhealthy way of approaching that—guess which one we normally go for?).  These are mere counterfeits, poor substitutes for the high road of magnanimity.

According to Josef Pieper in On Hope, “Magnanimity is the aspiration of the spirit to great things….  A person is magnanimous if he has the courage to seek what is great and becomes worthy of it.  This virtue has its roots in a firm confidence in the highest possibilities of that human nature that God did ‘marvelously ennoble and has still more marvelously renewed’.”

But notice where your eyes go in:  “the courage to seek what is great” and “a firm confidence in the highest possibilities.”  We love a little glory, don’t we?  Courage, greatness, confidence, possibility.  That’s me, we say.  I’m all about that.

Well, remember our little discussion the other day about humility?

At first glance, magnanimity may seem to be the opposite of humility, but think again.  Humility is the foundation magnanimity is built upon.  It’s “the knowledge and acceptance of the inexpressible distance between Creator and creature” (Pieper).  Remember the parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7?  The very same materials we might use to build a mansion on a foundation of rock can be used to build one on a sand dune.  The difference isn’t in the plan or the materials or even the workmanship but in the foundation.  In the parable, both the wise and foolish builders heard the word of God, but only the wise builder acted upon it, “put it into practice.”  If we don’t begin here, our journey to becoming a great soul will always end in futility.

In other words, any activity that isn’t rooted in genuine humility is mere Babel-work.  Even if what we’re aiming for is good, right, true and just, if it’s built on a foundation of pride and self-importance instead of genuine humility, we’re sunk.

Isaiah 61 isn’t so much my life verse as my life chapter!  I love it as a picture of becoming magnanimous.  You may know it from Jesus’ quoting of it in Luke 4, when He speaks of the mission the Father sent to fulfill:

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….

The passage goes on, but I think Jesus stopped here because this is where people live—oppressed, brokenhearted, prisoners and captives of all sorts.  God has to meet you here.  If you don’t meet Him here, He has nothing else for you.  He can’t treat you as the person He intends you to be until you are that person.

But once He meets you, what’s His plan?  Verses 3 and 4 tell us:  to provide for us, to offer us gladness and to stir up praise within us.  He remakes us into “oaks of righteousness.”  But He doesn’t do all this just so we can be awesome, He does it to “display His glory.”  Furthermore, He makes us into those who will “build up the ancient ruins.”

Like the One who met us in our despair and brokenness, we become little Christs building those up around us whose lives have become ruins and working within a culture which is crumbling all around us.  We become beacons of hope and a future, and in doing so display His glory.

This is just a taste of what it means to become a great soul—not to be great but to live greatly, not to revel in our own splendor, but to see others restored to their dignity as image-bearers of the One who made them, who called them into being.

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