The idea that the chief care of the soul and its happiness is to be an empty vessel is profound beyond words to describe. We are commanded to be holy as He is holy, yet this says that the highest virtue of the soul is to present itself as an empty vessel. We are commanded to love others as Christ loved, yet Murray tells us that the highest “virtue” of the soul is to present itself as an empty vessel. Is Murray being completely unbiblical or is he giving us an approach to the Christian life that is thoroughly biblical and virtually lost in our day? I believe the latter. We might also think of virtue as that which the soul obtains by the work of grace in the soul rather than its own works.
“The creature has not only to look back to the origin and first beginning of existence, and acknowledge that it there owes everything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.” (Andrew Murray)
Other than some of the ancient Greeks and people like Nietzsche, most have thought of humility as something desirable. It is true they did not understand humility in the Christian way, but there was something that of it that they desired. Even though unbelievers do not understand the depths of pride, they are still repulsed by those who are openly proud. Within professing Christianity humility (in name) is thought to be desirable by all. So it is possible to desire humility (at least some form or definition of it) in order to impress others or for non-Christian motives. The Pharisees fasted and prayed in order to be seen by men, so it is certainly possible to desire to be seen as humble in order to impress others. Do I desire to be humble that I may think well of myself? Do I desire to be humble so that others will think well of me? Do I want to be humble in order to please my spiritual pride? Do I desire to be humble simply because it feeds my spiritual pride in wanting to be biblical and it is in the Bible? If I desire humility in name rather than what it really is for reasons other than to seek the face of God and His glory I desire it for self-centered reasons and that is the opposite of true humility.
Instead of desiring humility for the reasons of self, even if it is for religious self, true humility is the absence of self which brings us to the quote from Andrew Murray. True humility is to present ourselves to God as an empty vessel. God has created all things for His own glory and it is only the humble soul that is emptied of self can be full of His glory and do all with holy intentions and love for His glory. The spiritually proud soul can desire the glory of God in one sense and do things to the glory of God in that sense, but the proud soul in doing that can be much like the Pharisees who did all they did to be seen by men or to please themselves.
The reason that humility is so important is that unless the soul is emptied of self it will do all it does (even its religious actions and duties) for self. In other words, there is no true biblical holiness apart from the soul being emptied of self in order that the love of God may dwell in and through it. If the soul is not emptied of self and filled with the only love in the universe, that soul will do all things out of love for self. As I Corinthians 13:1-3 declares with power, there is nothing that any person can do apart from love that is worthy anything at all.
1 Corinthians 13:1 – “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
The true happiness of the soul according to the modern world is to be full of self and to feed self all it desires. The true happiness of the soul if one learns it from Scripture is to be empty of self, continue to deny self daily, and then to be full of the presence and power of God. This is the message of the Beatitudes which teaches poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, and a pure heart as the way of true blessedness. The Beatitudes and humility teach what true blessedness and happiness (inner joy) really are. Instead of being people who are full of self looking around how to fill self with what self wants whether it is in religion or the world, we are to be those who seek the emptiness of self and pursue Him so that He will dwell in us and manifest His glory in and through us. After all, we say that we love Him and His glory with all of our being. That is only possible if we are emptied of self.
God Loves... Himself 
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