Humility also has to do with the Divine life in the soul. It has to do with Christ Himself dwelling in the soul and living His life in the soul. The soul is born dead in trespasses and sin and by nature is a child of wrath. That life that it lives is the life of self and pride. But the Divine life, Jesus Christ Himself, humbled Himself to take human flesh and be born as a man. The Divine life while clothed in human flesh humbled Himself to perfect obedience to the Father and went to the cross to suffer and die. This Divine life is seen in the glory of humility and in that humility He overcame pride and self. Salvation occurs in a human soul when that soul is released from the bondage of the self and pride and the Divine life which includes humility then lives in that soul. This is the same Lord Jesus Christ who humbled Himself to come to earth, walked in perfect humility on earth, then humbled Himself to death and was then resurrected. Since it is the same Lord Jesus Christ we can expect and know that the life He lives in His people will constantly be moving them toward humility.
In his magnificent book on humility, though not perfect, Andrew Murray gives us a view of humility not often presented. In the preface he makes the point that there is the humility of the creature, the humility of the sinner, and then the humility of the saint. This is a very important distinction to make. The humility of the creature tells us about the humility we should have simply as creatures. There is no need to bring sin in at all points to instruct us about humility as Jesus Christ Himself was the most humble of all time and He never sinned. Simply as creatures bowing before their Maker human beings should be emptied of self and set apart for His purposes of displaying His glory. The humility of the sinner points to how humble sinners should be since not only have they been created but they have sinned against their Creator and have no way of satisfying justice for the demands against them on account of their cosmic criminality. The humility of the saint is in some ways a combination of the previous two with an added dimension, however. The saint is both a created person and a sinner. But the saint is one that has the Divine life dwelling in him or her. The humility that dwells in the saint is in many ways one with the life that dwells in the saint because that humble life is Christ Himself. This is the life of grace in the soul.
To truly understand humility we must understand to some degree all three of these aspects of humility. The creature can never bring the Creator into its debt and can never force or deceive the Creator to do anything. The creature is always at the mere mercy of the Creator for its life, breath, and all things. Yet the creature could never have the power to please the Creator in its own strength. The creature would always have been utterly dependent on the Creator for any ability to please God since God is never pleased with anything or anyone apart from His own glory shining in it. That is not in the hands of the creature to do. The sinful creature has sinned against the Creator and is at enmity toward Him. It must have its heart of enmity turned to love or it will perish. It must have its infinite debt that it owes because of its sin taken away. If that sin is not removed, the creature will never have the indwelling of Divine life that will enable it to please God. The humility of the saint is that it has been shown how utterly dependent it is on God. The saint is a creature and the pride of the creature has been broken so it sees to some degree just how dependent it is as a creature on God. The saint also sees the depths of its sin and so sees how utterly dependent on God it is to take away its sin and have the Divine life dwelling in it. The saint lives each moment by grace and would not have it any other way. But the saint must constantly fight pride and self and die to pride and self so that faith may live in it which receives grace. Thus it should be seen how these three aspects of humility are important for the believer to walk in true humility. Each of these three aspects also reflects on the other two aspects so that a believer can see what utter dependence s/he has on grace.
Humility is far a far deeper topic and far more important to the spiritual life than is thought in the modern day. It is far more important than church growth topics and of all the things that take up air and cyber space today. Without humility no one will be saved. Without humility no one will have the life of Christ in them. Without an increasing humility there will be no spiritual growth. Without humility there is no true understanding of Scripture. Without humility there is no prayer. Without humility there is no spiritual sight, no spiritual hearing, and no spiritual feeling or taste. Without humility there is no spiritual fruit. Without humility there is no repentance and turning from sin for the unbeliever or believer. Without humility there is no communion with God. Humility is inextricably tied to the Divine life in the soul since the life of the soul is Christ and He lived and lives a humble life. Oh that believers would grow in their understanding of humility so that the life of Christ would shine through them and the glory of the Father would be seen shining in the face of Christ as He dwells in His people.
God Loves... Himself 
March 11, 2010 at 6:27 am |
Thank you so much for this post. I get to lead a discussion this morning on humility with some young believers who want to be all they can be in their service to the Master and this post will be a wonderful way of beginning that discussion.