Our church leadership team is currently reading through the book Humility by Andrew Murray. We read one chapter per week, and a different member of our team leads a discussion each Tuesday.
Humility is packed with profound spiritual truth. So many powerful quotes, like this one:
“The call to humility has been too little regarded in the church because its true nature and importance have been too little apprehended. It is not something that we bring to GOD, or that He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness that comes when we see how truly GOD is everything.”
Murray declares, “Humility, the place of entire dependence upon GOD, is form the very nature of things the first duty and the highest virtue of His creatures.” In the next sentence, he wrote, “And so pride – the loss of humility – is the root of every sin and evil.”
The perfect example of humility is JESUS CHRIST, and the greatest Biblical text on humility is Philippians 2: 5-11. GOD became a man:
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
JESUS demonstrated perfect humility in John 13: 1-17. He washed the disciples’ feet. Then, at the conclusion, JESUS said, “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” JESUS, of course, refers to a spirit of humility that is reflected in an act of service. According to JESUS, humility is the way to happiness. He declares in verse 17, “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.”
The authentic Christian life is a life of humility!
Pastor Mike