Humility – Part 1

Preface: It is the mystery of grace, which teaches us that as we lose ourselves in the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love, humility becomes to us the consummation of everlasting blessedness and adoration.

As believers, we have not been distinctly guided to see that. Even in our relation as creatures, nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing, that God may be all. Often, it has not been made clear that it is not sin that humbles us most, but grace, and that it is the soul, led through its sinfulness to be occupied with God in His wonderful glory as God, as Creator, that will truly take the lowest place before Him.

If Jesus is indeed to be our example in His lowliness, we need to understand the principles in which it was rooted, and in which we find the common ground on which we stand with Him, and in which our likeness to Him is attained. If we are indeed to be humble, not only before God but towards men, if humility is to be our joy, we must see that it is not only the mark of shame because of sin, but a being clothed upon with the very beauty and blessedness of Jesus. We shall see that just as Jesus found His glory in taking the form of a servant, so when He said to us, “Whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant,” He simply taught us the blessed truth that there is nothing so divine as being the servant and helper of all. The faithful servant who recognizes his position finds a real pleasure in supplying the wants of the master or his guests. When we see that humility is something infinitely deeper than contrition, and accept it as our participation in the life of Jesus, we shall begin to learn that it is our true nobility, and that to prove it in being servants of all is the highest fulfillment of our destiny, as one created in the image of God.

When I look back upon my own religious experience…I stand amazed at the thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the discipleship of Jesus. In preaching and living, in the daily intercourse of the home and social life, in the more special fellowship with Christians, in the direction and performance of work for Christ - alas, how much proof there is that humility is not esteemed the cardinal virtue, the only root from which the graces can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus and our Father. That it should have been possible for men to say of

those who claim to be seeking holiness, that their profession has not been accompanied with increasing humility, is a loud call to all earnest Christians, however much or little truth there be in the charge, to prove that meekness and lowliness of heart are the chief marks by which they who follow the meek and lowly lamb of God are to be known.

The glory of man

When God created man, it was with the one object of making him partaker of His own perfection and blessedness to show forth in him the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through man by communicating to him as much of His own goodness and glory as he was capable of receiving. This was not something which man could receive of himself, but as God is the Ever-living, Ever-present, Ever-acting One, who upholds all things by the word of His power, and in whom all things exist, the relationship could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence of man upon his Creator, the One to whom he owes everything and whom to know, is his only true happiness both now and throughout all eternity. Man’s primary care then is to present himself an empty vessel in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness. This life bestowed is imparted moment by moment, continuously by the unceasing operation of God’s mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and highest virtue of man and the root of every virtue.

Thus, pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. It was when the serpent breathed the poison of his pride, the desire to be as God into the hearts of our first parents, that they, too, fell from their high estate into all the wretchedness in which man has now sunk. Thus, Jesus came to bring humility back to earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. The humility we see in Him was possessed by Him in heaven; it brought Him to earth and He brought it here to us, from there. While on earth “He humbled Himself (further), and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross...” Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, by His life of perfect humility.

Therefore, the life of God’s children must bear this stamp of deliverance from sin, and full restoration to their original state, their whole relation to God and man marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this, there can be no true abiding in God’s Presence, or experiencing His favor and the power of His Spirit; without humility, there is no abiding faith, or love, or joy, or strength. Humility is the only soil in which the graces of the spirit root; the lack of it is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others as it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, allowing Him to do and to be All.

The call to humility, has been too little regarded in the Church, and its true nature and importance has been too little apprehended. It is not something that 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. When man realizes this true nobility and consents to be with his will, mind, and affections the vessel in which the life and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position and yielding to God His rightful place. The chief mark of the relationship of man to his Creator is the true secret of blessedness, the humility and nothingness, which leaves God free to be All in our lives.

Most of us would confess that we have long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they were of the Master…Let us study the character of Christ until we are filled with the love and admiration of His lowliness. Let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and our impotence to cast it out, Jesus Christ Himself will come in to impart this grace as a part of His wondrous life within us. (To be continued)

From Humility by Andrew Murray

A HUMBLE MIND

Plant in us a humble mind,

Patient, pitiful, and kind;

Meek and lowly let us be,

Full of goodness - full of Thee.

Charles Wesley

The sweetest Music - Have you ever thought of it - that only the smaller birds sing. You never heard a note from the eagle in all your life, or from the turkey or ostrich. But you have heard from the canary, the wren, and the lark. The sweetest music comes from those who are small in their own estimation before the Lord.

Watchman-Examiner