Pastor Murray begins his first chapter with a Scripture from Revelation 4:10-11, in which God in heaven is praised for His glory and creation with the statement that all things were created by God for His pleasure. Murray then makes the following points: 1. Man was created to reveal God, especially His goodness and glory, which man can reveal but not possess. Because of God's omnipotence, man can only relate to Him in total dependence upon Him. Man's highest calling then is to be empty of self in order to have God be, and manifest Himself, in man. Humility is that entire dependence on God. 2. Pride, which is the absence of humility, is the root of all sin and evil. Pride and self-exaltation are of hell. Pride has caused even angels to fall, while humility can raise up the basest person. In Note A, Murray states, ". . . pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you." Pride is death; humility is life. We must choose to give up to lowly Jesus; if one has true humility he/she has Christ in him/her. Choose to be the footstool of the whole world. 3. Jesus came to bring humility back to man. That is man's restoration before God. Jesus' humility is our salvation. 4. Those saved by Christ must bear humility as a sign of His deliverance. Man's whole relationship with God must be one of humility. Without that there is no favor from God, no power of the Spirit, no faith/love/joy/strength. Man does not bring "humility" before God or have Him bestow it on him. Humility is the nothingness in man when one sees that God is all. Humility is seeing the human position before God, and giving God His place. 5. The Church understands little about humility, and therefore appreciates its necessity too little. Humility is often thought in the Church to arise from one's sinful state, but Christ's nature of humility is a more powerful source. In believers, humility is rather a mark of righteousness in Christ; as such, it frees God to be all in those lives.
6. Humility does not come automatically. First it must be recognized as an essential feature in Jesus; then it must be desired, prayed for, believed in and practiced. Study Jesus and His words and ways. 7. We must start our drive for Christ's humility by first acknowledging the natural pride in us, with its self-focus, intractable state, and danger to us. Then we must study Jesus' nature and wait on God and Christ, who will show us our pride, how weak we are to lose it in order to obtain humility. We must be filled with the knowledge of, and admiration and love for, Jesus' humility. Murray finishes this chapter: ". . . 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 grace as a part of His wondrous life within us."
1 Comment
Grover
1/24/2014 08:14:56 am
In the garden, we see Adam's complete dependence upon God (until the fall) and God's complete supply for Adam. When Adam (Eve) ate the fruit, Adam was demonstrating that God's supply was not enough and Adam could supply his own needs by his own strength (pride.). Hmmm...
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AuthorAndrew Murray was a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. Murray considered missions to be "the chief end of the church." Archives
April 2014
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Humility
The Beauty of Holiness
“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”
Andrew Murray