When our desire for recognition and approval is ordered rightly, it’s transformed away from vainglory toward magnanimity (mag-nah-nim-uh-tee).
Magnanimity is the virtue that showcases the genuine goodness inside us, writes Rebecca K. DeYoung.1 Magnanimous people understand that they are thoroughly known and unconditionally accepted by God.
They have a deep peace about who they are and who they are becoming. They know that the glory inside their body is not theirs—it is God’s. His virtue is filling and freeing them.
Magnanimous individuals are magnetic. They draw people to themselves. Not for their glory, but because of it. When we’re with them, they enlarge our world, open us up, affirm us. Like a seasoned writer, they show instead of tell. They give us a taste of their deepest spirit without a trace of competition or rivalry. They have nothing to protect, nothing to promote. They simply have the fantastic ability to make us want to become more - without making us feel less.
Room to Reflect
Where in my life do I notice a pull toward recognition or approval?
What would it look like for me to rest in the kind of peace described here — a settled sense of who I am and who I’m becoming?
Who in my life embodies this kind of magnanimity? What is it about their presence that enlarges me rather than diminishes me?
DeYoung, Rebecca Konyndyk. Vainglory: The Forgotten Vice. (United Kingdom: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 75.