Humility - Andrew Murray

Publisher: Whitaker House Publisher
ISBN: 0883681102
Pages: 106
Book Type: Trade Paperback
Size: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.3 inches
Released Date: June 1, 1982

Reviews
Table Of Contents
Excerpt

Description:
Humility is the essence of a glorious, blessed spiritual relationship with God. Few authors have the courage to approach the subject, but Andrew Murray makes the Bible's teaching on humility perfectly clear. He exposes our selfishness and provides the secret to living in humility.

Reviews:

Possibly the Best Book Ever Written on Humility
Reviewer: Christopher C. Alsruhe, OHS (Baltimore, Maryland United States) October 17, 2000

This book is a must read for every Christian. I have never read a book which so accurately defines Biblical humility. Murray shows how humility is a mindset and lifestyle, not a feeling. Humility is the one-word definition of every Christian's life--or it should be. Humility is the one-word description of all Christ was and is and of how He lived as our example to follow. The most amazing truth in this book is that which speaks of humility being a quality not resulting from sin, but from grace (God working within the believer). Jesus was perfect in humility, yet He never sinned. Humility was required on the part of the Son of God in Heaven before He ever became incarnate, so humility is a heavenly, Godlike quality. We need not sin to be humble; we need to be like Jesus as found in Mark 10:45 to be humble. In other words, for a Christian to be perfectly humble, he/she must be the greatest servant, not the greatest sinner. And if one could be totally sinless in this life, he/she would be perfectly humble. This book is too short, too low in cost, and too easy to read (though challenging in virtually every sentence) for any Christian to have an excuse not to read it.

Preface
1. Humility:The Glory Of The Creature 9
2. The Secret Of Redemption 15
3. In The Life Of Jesus 21
4. In The Teaching Of Jesus 27
5. In The Disciples Of Jesus 35
6. In Daily Life 43
7. And Holiness 51
8. And Sin 59
9. And Faith . 67
10. And Death To Self 73
11. And Happiness 81
12. And Exaltation 89
Notes 97
A Prayer For Humility 105

Chapter 1 Humility: The Glory Of The Creature

"The four and twenty elders shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" Revelation 4: 10-11.

When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making man the partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and of showing in it the glory of His love, His wisdom, and His power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving. But this did not mean that man was given something which he could possess in itself, or a certain life or goodness of which he had the charge and disposal. By no means.

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 of man to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence. As truly as God by His power once created, so truly by that same power must God, every moment, maintain. Man need only look back to the origin of existence and he will acknowledge that he owes everything to God. Man's chief care, his highest virtue, and his only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present himself as an empty vessel in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.

The life God bestows is imparted not once and for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, 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 was when the now fallen angels began to look upon themselves with self-satisfaction that they were led to disobedience and were cast down from the light of heaven into outer darkness. When the serpent breathed the poison of his pride-the desire to be like God-into the hearts of our first parents, they, too, fell from their high estate into all the wretchedness in which man is now sunk. in all heaven and earth, pride and self-exaltation are the gate and the curse of hell. (See Note A.)

Hence, it follows that nothing can redeem us but the restoration of our lost humility, the original and only true relationship of man to God. And so Jesus came to bring humility back to earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. In heaven, He humbled Himself' to become man. The humility we see in Him, He possessed in heaven; it brought Him, and He brought it, from there. Here on earth "He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death" (Philippians 2:8). His humility gave His death its value, and so became our redemption. And now the salvation He imparts is nothing less than a communication of His own life and death, His own disposition and spirit. His own humility has become the ground and root of His relationship to God and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man by His life of perfect humility His humility Is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.

And so the life of the saved ones, of the saints, must bear this stamp of deliverance from sin and full restoration to their original state. Their whole relationship to both God and man must be marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this there can be no true abiding in God's presence or experience of His favor and the power of His Spirit. Without this there can be no abiding faith or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only soil in which the graces root: the lack of humility is the sufficient expla-nation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone assumes the right attitude before God and allows Him as God to do all. God gave us a sense of reason. Because of this, the truer our insight into the real nature or the absolute need of a command, the more ready and full our obedience to it will be. The call to humility has been too little regarded in the Church because its true nature and importance have been too little understood. It is not something, which we bring to God or He bestows. It is simply the sense of entire nothing-ness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all. Man must realize that this is the true nobility. He must consent to be, with his will, his mind, and his affections, the form and the vessel in which the life and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves. Then he will see that humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as man and yielding to God His place.
In the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess holiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness. It is often said that it is not so. One reason may be that in the teaching and example of the Church, humility has never had that place of supreme importance, which rightfully belongs to it. This results from the neglect of this truth: that although sin is a powerful motive to humility, there is one of still wider and mightier influence-that which makes the angels, that which made Jesus, that which makes the holiest of saints in heaven, so humble. That is, that the first and chief mark of the relationship of man with God, the secret of his blessedness, is the humility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all.

I am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their experience has been very much like my own in this-that we had long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart should be the distinguishing feature of the disciple, as they were of the Master. Such humility is not a thing that will come on its own. It must be made the object of special desire, prayer, faith, and practice. As we study the Word, we will see what very distinct and often repeated instructions Jesus gave His disciples on this point, and how slow they were in understanding Him.

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. Let us feel that nothing but a very determined and persevering waiting on God and Christ will disclose how lacking we are in the grace of humility, and how weak we are to obtain what we seek. Let us study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of His humility. And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and realize our inability to cast it out, Jesus Christ Himself will give us this race as a part of His wondrous life within us.