Occasionally God chooses to supernaturally bless the writings of a godly author, and his/her books challenge Christians and change their lives for many years after the writer’s death. Humility, by Andrew Murray, is one of those rare books where every chapter and line inspire a witness of truth in the reader’s heart. This godly man’s insights into the beautiful subject of humility truly have the potential to change your life.
If you have accepted the mistaken idea that there is something unpleasant about humility, or that it is just a difficult Christian duty, this book is for you. If you have been led to believe that humility is nothing more than shame for your sin, this book will open your eyes to its true beauty. And if you have had a glimpse of that beautiful humility as God sees it, and are longing to see it manifested in your life, I believe this book will fulfill your longing by pointing you to the Source of all humility. Following are some excerpts (in italics) that I hope will inspire you to read it for yourself and allow it to change your life.
Humility, the place of entire dependence on God…is the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue. And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. It is our pride that made redemption needful. It is from our pride that we need, above everything, to be redeemed. Let us, from the beginning, admit that there is nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our sight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride.
As Mr. Murray clearly shows in the opening chapters, our insight into the need for humility and our desire for it are directly related to how clearly we see the hellish nature of the pride that has controlled our being. We may despair when we see the terrible spiritual power behind this hideous poison of pride. Rather than despairing, though, we must look beyond our own inadequate strength to the meek Lamb of God, Who offers to make us partakers of His divine nature of perfect humility.
It is not sin nor its shame that truly humbles us, but a vision of God’s perfect majesty and holiness. We tend to equate humility with repentance and contrition, but true humility needs nothing of sin in order to be perfected. Jesus perfectly exemplified humility without even a hint of sin. Humility is our common ground with Him, and allows us to become like Him. It is our truest nobility. Being servants of all is the highest fulfillment of our destiny as men created in the image of God. [Jesus’] humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility. It is not something which we bring to God or He bestows. It is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.
Only being totally occupied with Christ can free us from self and make us humble. Being occupied with self, even amid the deepest self-abhorrence, can never free us from self. Humility is not an action we learn to perform. Neither is it condemning or degrading ourselves to an unnaturally low position. Rather, it is simply acknowledging the truth about our state of absolute nothingness, as well as the truth of God’s place as the All in all. Until we seek humility in Christ above our chief joy, and welcome it at any price, there is very little hope of a religion that will conquer the world.
The greatest secret is to study the humility of Jesus. We must begin to understand Who He was and His place of absolute authority and majesty, before we can begin to appreciate the depths of His perfect humility. The saddest part of this subject is not that there are so few Christians who display Christ’s humility, but that there are so few who even desire it and continually pray for it. Just as water always flows to the lowest place, God’s blessing and glory is pouring into the low places of the truly humble heart.
Do not allow yourself to believe that just because you are actively serving God, you must have found true humility. Jesus’ disciples were busy, active supporters of the Messiah, yet they constantly wearied Him with their arguments of who was the greatest. The only humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before God in prayer.... It is in our most unguarded moments that we really show and see what we are. Humility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men.
Unless we make the increase of humility our study, we may find that we have been delighting in beautiful thoughts and feelings...while the only sure mark of the presence of God- the disappearance of self- was all the time wanting.
I hope that these few thoughts will inspire you to desire and pursue humility with a new appreciation for its beauty. I believe that reading Andrew Murray’s insights into the humility of Jesus, how it applies to our daily lives, how it helps us overcome sin, how it leads to death to self, how it strengthens faith, how it brings true joy, and how it finally opens the way for God to exalt us, will truly change your life. May God use this beautiful little book to lead you into the higher life that is only found through the lower life of humility. [Humility] is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God.
