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MurHumi 09-03-049 |
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Humility Andrew
Murray Whitaker
House 1982, 126 pp., ISBN 0-88368-178-1 |
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Andrew Murray (9 May
1828-18 January 1917) was a South
African writer, teacher and Christian
pastor.
Murray considered missions "the chief end of the church." He is the
author of a number of classic books on the
Christian life. "As God is the ever living, ever present,
ever acting One--who upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3),
and in whom all things exist (Col. 1:17)--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." "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."
(15-16) "Humility is the only soil in which the
graces take root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every
defect and failure." (17) "All the wretchedness in this world has its
origin in what this cursed, hellish pride--either our own, or that of
others--has brought us. All wars and
bloodshed among the nations, all selfishness and suffering, all ambitions and
jealousies, all broken hearts and embittered lives, with all the daily
unhappiness, are a result of this same wicked pride. It is pride that made redemption
necessary. It is from our pride we
need, above everything, to be redeemed." (24) "Pride has its root and strength in a
terrible spiritual power, outside of us as well as within us. We must confess it, deplore it, and be aware
of its satanic origin." (25) "The life of God, which in the incarnation
entered human nature, is the root in which we are to stand and
grow." "It waits for our
consent to gain possession and mastery of our entire being." (25) "What is the incarnation but His heavenly
humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility, His
taking the form of a servant? And what
is His atonement but humility?" "Christ is the humility of God
embodied in human nature." (26) "If humility is the root of the tree, its
nature must be seen in every branch, leaf, and fruit." (26) "We must seek a humility that rests in
nothing less than the end and death of self; that gives up all the honor of
men, as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; that
absolutely makes and considers itself nothing so that God may be all, so that
the Lord alone may be exalted." (27)
Jesus took the place of entire
subordination. "Christ was
nothing, so that God might be all. He
resigned Himself with His will and His powers entirely for the Father to work
in Him." "Christ found this
life of entire self-renunciation, of absolute submission and dependence upon
the Father's will, to be one of perfect peace and joy." (33) "He was able to be the servant of all. His humility was simply the surrender of
Himself to God, to allow the Father to do in Him what He pleased, no matter
what men around might say of Him or do to Him." "We are made
partakers of Christ so that God might bring us to this disposition." "It is the being and doing nothing by
ourselves so that God may be all. Here
we have the root and nature of true humility." "…our place is to yield to Him in
perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing
of ourselves. This is the life Christ
came to reveal and to impart--a life in God that comes through death to sin
and self." (34) "The root of all virtue and grace--of all
faith and acceptable worship--is that we know that we have nothing but what
we receive, and we bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it."
(35) "To the poor, who have nothing in
themselves, the kingdom comes. For the
meek, who seek nothing in themselves, theirs will be the earth. The blessings of heaven and earth are for
the lowly." (Matt 5:3, 5) (40) "The chief glory of heaven, the true
heavenly mindedness, the chief of the graces is humility. 'He that is least among you all, the same
shall be great' (Luke 9:48)." (41) "'Whoever
will be chief among you, let him be your servant.' God wants us to believe that Jesus meant
this! We all know what the character
of a faithful servant or slave implies: devotion to the master's interests,
thoughtful study and care to please him, delight in his prosperity and honor
and happiness." (43) "We have our pride from another, from Adam;
we must have our humility from Another, too.
Pride is ours, and it rules in us with such terrible power, because it
is our self, our very nature. Humility
must be ours in the same way; it must be our very self, our very
nature." (52) "Humility toward men will be the only
sufficient proof that our humility before God is real." (57) "'Let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves' (Phil. 2:3) (59) "The humble man feels no jealousy or
envy. He can praise God when others
are preferred and blessed before him." (60) "In man, humility is the one thing needed to
allow God's holiness to dwell in him and shine through him." "The one infallible test of our
holiness will be the humility before God and men that marks us. Humility is the bloom and the beauty of
holiness." (67) "There is none holy but God (1 Sam.
2:20). We have as much of holiness as
we have of God. …humility is nothing
but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all." (70)
"Love 'vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up, …seeketh not her own' (1 Cor.
13:4-5)." (70) "And where
God has entered in His power and reveals Himself as all, man becomes
nothing. And where man becomes nothing
before God, he cannot be anything but humble toward his fellowmen."
(71) "It is the displacement of self by the
enthronement of God. Where God is all,
self is nothing." (75) "Not
to be occupied with your sin, but to be occupied with God, brings deliverance
from self." (80) "Faith is the sense organ by which we
perceive and understand the heavenly world and its blessings." "Pride renders faith
impossible." "Salvation is
union with, delight and participation in, the humility of Jesus. Is it any wonder that our faith is so
feeble when pride still reigns so much, and we have hardly learned to long or
pray for humility as the most necessary and blessed part of salvation?"
(85) "Let us seek first of all to humble
ourselves 'under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt [us]' (1 Pet. 5:6)." (86) "Jesus humbled Himself unto death and opened
the path in which we, too, must walk."
"Humility must lead us to die to self." (91) "If you want to enter into full
fellowship with Christ in His death, and know the full deliverance from self,
humble yourself. This is your one
duty. Place yourself before God in your utter helplessness." "Accept every humiliation, look upon
every person who tries your patience or irritates you as a means of grace to
humble you. Use every opportunity of
humbling yourself before your fellowmen as a help to remain humble before
God." (93) "In this manner,
Christ, in His form of a servant, is truly formed in you and dwells in your
heart." Paul was sent a thorn in his flesh to keep him
humble. He desired to have it removed
but God's answer was that the trial was a blessing in which the strength of
the Lord could be better manifested.
Paul learned that "the place of humiliation is the place of
blessing, power, and joy." (99) "Virtually every Christian … fears and flees
and seeks deliverance from all that can humble him." "To humble himself has not yet become
the spontaneous expression of a life and a nature that are essentially
humble." "Nothing but the presence
of God can reveal and expel self."
"Our humiliations lead us, in the experience of the presence and
power of Jesus to choose humility as our highest blessing." (100) "It is indeed blessed--it is the deep
happiness of heaven--to be so free from self that whatever is said about us
or done to us is lost and swallowed up in the thought that Jesus is
all." "He watches over us
with a jealous, loving care, lest we exalt ourselves." "He seeks to bring us low until we
learn that His grace is all." (102)
"The danger of pride is greater and nearer
than we think, and the grace for humility is also." "The humility of Jesus is our
salvation." (103) "Trust Him to do what He says is His work;
He will exalt you." (107)
"Take every opportunity of humbling yourself before God and
man." (108) "The highest glory of man is in being
only a vessel, to receive and enjoy and show forth the glory of God. Man can do this only as he is willing to be
nothing in himself so that God may be all." (110) "When God can again have His rightful
place in us, He will lift us up." (111)
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