It must be impressed into the soul that desires true humility that this is only found in the recognition and submission of the soul in light of who God is. While there is a form of humility that the human soul must have in light of its sin, and indeed that is the kind that most focus on, perfect humility is seen in Christ and He was perfectly sinless. The degree of humility that a soul will have is directly related to the absence of self and the presence of the life of Christ in the soul. The Lord Jesus humbled Himself to take human flesh to Himself and then humbled Himself while in human flesh to go to the cross (Philippians 2). That same Lord will work humility in the souls of those He lives in because that is the life He works in souls. A true believer in Christ is one that will grow in humility because the life of Christ will work that in the soul.
“If Jesus is indeed to be our example in His lowliness, we need to understand the principles in which it was rooted, and in which we find the common ground on which we stand with Him, and in which our likeness to Him is to be attained. If we are indeed to be humble, not only before God but towards men, if humility is to be our joy, we must see that it is not only the mark of shame, because of sin, but, apart from all sin, a being clothed upon with the very beauty and blessedness of heaven and of Jesus. We shall see that just as Jesus found His glory in taking the form of a servant, so when He said to us, ‘Whosoever would be first among you, shall be your servant,’ He simply taught us the blessed truth that there is nothing so divine and heavenly as being the servant and helper, of all…When we see that humility is something infinitely deeper than contrition, and accept it as our participation in the life of Jesus, we shall begin to learn that it is our true nobility.” (Andrew Murray)
We read the words and perhaps hear them occasionally that the greatest in the kingdom is the most humble. But it does not settle down into our souls very deeply. We continue to think of greatness in terms of how the world defines it. The world defines greatness as fame, money, outward success, power, and the ability to lead in how it defines leadership. So the professing Church has bought that type of thinking and swallowed it whole. That has lead to churches looking for men with powerful or charismatic personalities, it has conferences looking for men who are famous, and so it has both the churches and conferences looking for men who fit the model of the world. Yet Scripture is so clear that the greatest is the most humble.
There are people in the churches who are busy doing things, but that in and of itself does not mean that they are humble and being like Christ. People can stay busy in the churches because of pride. They can do those things, even menial things, with a desire to get attention or to think of themselves or have others think of them as humble. Humility is not found in what a person does in and of itself, but in the motives and desires in doing them. Jesus is the supreme example of humility and so we must look to Him and His motives in what He did. We can find these in Scriptures about Him but also in the Scriptures that have His teaching.
Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
John 11:4 – “But when Jesus heard this, He said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.’…40 Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’ 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.'”
John 14:31 – “but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.”
Humility is to be emptied of the motives of self and to truly desire to love God which includes a desire for His glory to be manifested. The life of Christ was the glory of God on display. John 1:14 tells us that Jesus was the very tabernacle of the glory of God. John 1:18 says that Jesus came to put God on display or explain Him. All the teaching and all the miracles pointed to the glory of God. Even when Jesus was pointing to Himself He was doing so because He was the very outshining of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3). True humility, then, is to use self as a temple of the living God and to seek His glory out of love for His glory. It is not to use God to attain honor for self.
God Loves... Himself 
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