The Beauty of Humility

Dear friends,

A friend remembered that I had compiled a list of Scriptures on pride and humility a few years back and asked if I could send them to her. I also found these two quotes along the way. This could make a very profitable Bible study over a period of weeks.

In 2006, I wrote an article for Making Home Magazine called, "Be It Ever So Humbling, There's No Place Like Home". It is now on my web site (click the link above), and it has the full Scripture texts at the bottom as well.

~~ Blessings, Virginia

"All gracious affections,

which are a sweet odour to Christ,

filling the soul of a Christian

with a heavenly sweetness and fragrancy,

are broken hearted affections.

A truly Christian love, either to God or men,

is a humble broken-hearted love.

The desires of the saints,

however earnest, are humble desires;

their hope is an humble hope;

and their joy, even when it is unspeakable and full of glory,

is a humble, broken-hearted joy,

leaving the Christian more poor in spirit,

more like a little child,

and more disposed to an universal lowliness of behavior."

Jonathan Edwards, preacher of the Great Awakening

"I am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their own experience has been very much like my own in this, that we had long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing features of the disciple as they were of the Master. And further, that this humility is not a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice. As we study the word, we shall see what very distinct and oft-repeated instructions Jesus gave His disciples on this point, and how slow they were in understanding Him. Let us, at the very commencement of our meditations, admit that there is nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our sight, as pride. Let us feel that nothing but a very determined and persevering waiting on God and Christ will discover how lacking we are in the grace of humility, and how impotent to obtain what we seek. Let us study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of his lowliness. And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and our impotence to cast it out, Jesus Christ Himself will come in to impart this grace too, as a part of His wondrous life within us." ~~ Humility by Andrew Murray, South African preacher of yesteryear

A Small Sampling of Scriptures on Humility

• Genesis 3:1-13; 11:1-9
• 2 Chronicles 7:1-4; 7:11-16; 26:1-23; 32:20-33
• Psalm 25:1-22; 51:1-17; 52:1-9; 115:1, 123:1-2; 131:1-2; 138:1-8
• Proverbs 3:5-8; 11:2; 12:1; 15:33; 18:12; 21:4; 22:4; 25:6-7; 29:23
• Isaiah 6:1-8; 29:13-24; 57:14-21; 58:1-14; 66:1-2
• Lamentations 3:19-33
• Daniel 4:28-37; 10:1-2
• Micah 6:6-8
• Zephaniah 2:3; 3:9-20
• Matthew 3:1-12; 11:28-30; 18:1-4; 20:20-28; 23:1-12
• Luke 1:38-55; 14:7-11; 22:24-27
• John 3:23-31; 13:3-15
• Romans 11:17-36; 12:1-3; 12:16; 14:10-12
• 1 Corinthians 1:25-30; 13:4-6
• 2 Corinthians 7:9-10; 12:1-10
• Ephesians 4:1-6; 5:22-24
• Philippians 2:1-18
• Colossians 3:12-21
• Hebrews 12:18-29; 13:12-17
• James 1:19-21; 3:13-18; 4:1-17
• 1 Peter 3:1-9; 5:5-11