Humility, etc.

Here is a collection of random thoughts on humility. They’re coming from a book by Andrew Murray called, you guessed it, Humility. I tried to make them into some great, cohesive post but I couldn’t get a unified point across. So, enjoy and tell me what you think about humility. 

A few of Murray’s words on the subject of humility:

"We must learn of Jesus, how He is meek and lowly of heart. He teaches us where true humility begins and finds its strength--in the knowledge that it is God who works all in all, that our place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves."

where,

"Humiliation is the only ladder to honor in God's Kingdom."

And,

“…humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all.”

Murray speaks of Christ's humility in that He made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, becoming nothing, yielding even to the point of death. He did this to glorify His Father and to save us. Our response to this act is the very same. We react in humility, the very mark of Christ.

Humiliation, he says is the path to holiness. Now this does not mean what many would perceive it to mean. This kind of humiliation is not about beating one’s self up or feeling shameful. The meaning Murray is trying to convey comes from an older use of the word; the process of becoming more and more humble.

For this is his definition of humility: the place of entire dependence upon God.

Us being dependent on him, fellowshipping with him; this is our goal. Let us not too anything apart from Christ then, inviting him into every detail of our lives. Only then will we know our savior in true intimacy and joy.

"Whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matt. 20:27-28)

Comments

[David Dalrymple]

I really like the quote of:

“…humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all.”

Piper talks about how we were meant to forget ourselves in our enjoyment of God. After hearing Piper say that I asked myself if I had ever lost myself in enjoyment of anything. I think there are a few times I have. Where nothing of me matters. I think of a day of good fishing, sitting around a camp fire having great conversation, holding a girl in your arms or nearing the end of a great book. It's those times you wish would never end. I think God is like that only the feeling doesn't fade. I think this idea of Murray seems to speak to that.

This comment may seem a little off the topic of humility and more on the topic of
joy in God but I think there is a connection. It is only as I enjoy God that I can be humble. Piper also says that we should have a joy in God so strong that no pain can shake it and no pleasure compete with it. We should respond like the man who finds the pearl of great cost or the man who finds a treasure in a field. You would have to be quite humble to sell EVERYTHING you had to buy that field or pearl. If I know the true value of something then humbleness comes naturally. It almost ceases to be humbleness it would just be my natural course to the thing of value.

So I think one of our problems of humility is we don't understand the value of Christ, His love for us, His plan for our lives or His kingdom.

[Jason]

I like that connection: enjoyment of God will bring about Christ-like humility. It makes great sense to me that as I am enjoying God I would decrease more and more so that He could be more and more. It's the fact that Christ enjoyed His Father so much and did nothing without Him that showed so much humility. When he was in Gethsemane he showed this with the statement, 'Not my will, but your will be done.' I'm gonna think a little more on this enjoyment of God.

[Drew Leatherberry]

How do we value Christ more?

I'm glad the topic of humility has come up. Coincidentally, I've been preparing a little talk on King Josiah. Its amazing how God commended him for being responsive to the Book of the Law after it was read and humbling himself. I have to believe that this is a huge part of the process of humbling oneself: being responsive. How many times are we like the person James describes in James chapter 1 who sees himself in the mirror and then walks away? Why do we struggle to be responsive? Thoughts?

[Jason]

Personally, I think I simply have a serious case of pride. Pride and humility seem to be at polar ends and one can't exist while the other is around.

That verse, "He who humbles himself will be exalted" comes to mind. I don't want to humble myself because I want to do things my way. I want to be selfish. I look in the mirror and then walk away because I don't want to deal with the truth that I have to submit to God. God's doing an overhaul of my spirit right now. Replacing old selfish pride with a new god-centered humility. Tough lessons.