One of the most basic questions that gets to the heart of all things is why did God create the universe. Did God create the universe out of need? Did He bring the universe from nothing in order to obtain something from it that He lacked? Surely just the asking of the question in that way makes the answer obvious. It cannot be the case that God brings something from nothing or from non-being to being in order for it to provide Him something that He could not provide for Himself.
The next question has to do with why God created man. Did God create man so that man could do something for Him or so that man could fulfill some need He had? Once again the answer is obvious. God has no need of anything or anyone. Human beings, despite their pride in thinking differently, are utterly dependent on God for all things rather than God being dependent on them for one thing at all. This is the basis for one aspect of humility. God does not need man at all and yet proves man with breath and all things. God did not need man and yet He created man for a purpose. What could that purpose be?
Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him.17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
In reading these verses, we get the idea that Christ is the center of all things. How much does God really need us and how dependent are human beings on Him? If God truly maintains human beings and all things each and ever moment (also see Acts 17:24-28), then how empty human beings should be of self-dependence, self-sufficiency, and pride. In other words, humility is to be empty of self and a focus on self so that we can rely on God for all things and to look to Him for all things simply we truly live by His mercy and grace. If God does truly maintain human beings each and every moment of each and every day as Acts 17:24-28 declares, then there is no room for pride at all. This teaches us to look to Him as the Creator who created all things for Himself and no other reason. This teaches us that we are utterly dependent on Him for life, breath, and all things. Then when we look at things in the spiritual realm, we can see how dependent we are on Him for spiritual things. This should humble us in the dust to realize how dependent we are on Him and how proud we have been to think that things depended on us.
In light of why God created human beings and how we are dependent on Him for all things each moment, a human being would find its highest good and joy by being nothing more than an empty vessel in terms of self and pride so that it could be filled with God Himself. The soul would then find rest in Christ-esteem rather than self-esteem. The soul would then find that it was created for another and not itself. It would find that it is not to be a selfish and self-centered being, but instead it is to share in the life of God and then in the lives of others as they share in the life of God. This type of soul would find that it is the dwelling place of God and find that its true love is in seeing the glory of God being manifested through it. This type of soul would find that its greatest privilege is to be a vessel of the glory of God and an instrument He uses to manifest Himself through.
The soul that discovers the joy of humility as in fact discovered the goal of that humility and that is to be an empty vessel in regards to self so that it may be a full vessel in regards to God. This is the soul that will learn what it means to hate self (Luke 14:26) because it is that self that gets in the way of its true love which is God. It will learn to despise the noxious fumes of self as they rise because it wants to exalt in the incense of Christ. Oh how this soul now begins to truly live as it has Christ who is Divine life in the soul which is what eternal life really is. How this soul learns that true joy is to delight in God and not the things of self. Now this soul learns that true love must come from God and in fact is for God in all things. This is the soul that longs for and seeks for the enlightening work of the Spirit to show it more sin and more selfishness so that it may die more and more to self so that it can truly live by the Spirit of Christ more and more. Humility is not just a virtue that is added to the soul to make it more righteous, but it is the emptiness of self from the creature that it may share in the Divine life. It is true life. It is looking to Him as the all-sufficient One rather than self.
God Loves... Himself 
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