Humility has virtually been lost in the modern professing Church. It is not that the word is not used and that there is no concept of something that the word refers to, but the biblical concept has virtually been lost. One reason for this, if I see it correctly, is that the world’s idea of humility has taken over. The world has inundated the professing Church with its ideas of humility and love. Imagine, then, the results of this if what I am saying is correct. Murray thought that humility was hardly sought after in his day. Imagine his amazement if he thought that the world has replaced the biblical thinking about humility with its own. If he was right that humility was “the only root from which the graces can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus” and that true humility has been replaced with the idea of the world. The professing Church would primarily be nothing more than a professing Church and true Christianity would be little known and even less lived.
“When I look back upon my own religious experience, or round upon the Church of Christ in the world, I stand amazed at the thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the discipleship of Jesus. In preaching and living, in the daily intercourse of the home and social life, in the more special fellowship with Christians, in the direction and performance of work for Christ,-alas! how much proof there is that humility is not esteemed the cardinal virtue, the only root from which the graces can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus.” (Andrew Murray)
It is a shocking thought to think how the world has invaded the Church and has taken it over by changing the concepts while using the same words. The Church was saturated with the self-esteem and self-love teaching of the world for years and so it no longer has any real idea of what true love is. But once the idea of true love was assaulted, the necessity of a true humility was under assault as well. Biblical humility and biblical love cannot be separated. Until souls are emptied of self and pride (humility), they will never love God and others as they will always be consumed with itself. As long as humility is thought of in terms of being unable to know the truth or a simple feeling that one has, humility will remain as an outworking of pride. Humility is for the creature to take its proper place before its Creator and to be emptied of self. Humility is for the creature to distrust self, but it is to trust in the Creator. Humility is to be emptied of self and pride so that the Creator will exercise His rights in and on the creature. This is the biblical teaching of humility as we can see from Philippians 2 and many other places.
The world has brought in a form of self-centeredness into the professing Church and as such has cast out true humility and true love. It is not that humility is simply one of the virtues and we limp along a little slower without it, but it is the very root of all the graces. There is no grace apart from humility and grace is what believers live and work in the strength of (Col 1:29; II Cor 12:9). It has been utterly devastating to biblical Christianity to have its very root of all graces be changed in conception. The biblical idea is that the soul is to be emptied of self and broken of pride so that God may dwell in the soul and manifest Himself through it. But the idea of humility was changed in order to preserve the self and even to puff up the self in the pursuit of self-esteem. The pursuit of self-esteem and the pursuit of the emptying of self which true humility requires are opposite of each other and one can only pursue one at a time. In fact, not only can a person pursue only one at a time but when one is pursued the other is left that much further behind. The two ideas are polar opposites.
Christianity is now seen by the world as weak people seeking to prop themselves up with mythical teaching. In many ways this is true. It has become little more than another way for people to seek themselves. The mythical teaching is true not because people are following the truth of Scripture and of God, but because people are following the ways of the world because the world has brought its teachings into the professing Church. The Bible does not teach that human beings must love themselves before they can love God and others, it teaches that human beings must be humbled and broken so that humans would have God dwelling in them and so the love of God dwelling in them. It is only when the love of God is in a person that a person can love anyone at all. Humility is utterly necessary for people to have love dwell in them. Humility is utterly necessary for a person to receive grace and grace alone. For the true believer, therefore, who lives by grace, humility is utterly necessary to live and to have Christ as his or her life. It is not that the world has just watered down Christianity by bringing a few false teachings in, but in the subtlety of the devil it has taken away that which is utterly necessary to be a Christian and for one to live by grace alone. God hates and fights the proud, even if they claim to be Christians. How utterly deadly it has been to have true humility replaced. Our nation is demonstrative evidence of a Church gone wrong.
God Loves... Himself 
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