Jesus is the Proof

“Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion?  I should reply: the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.”

-          Augustine

“I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves – one above another – and the taller we grow, the easier we can reach them.  Now I find that God’s gifts are on shelves – and the lower we stoop, the more we get”

-          F.B. Meyer

Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness, Andrew Murray

Many Christians fear and flee and seek deliverance from all that would humble them.  At times they may pray for humility, but in their hearts they pray even more to be kept from the things that would bring them to that place.

It is a burden because humility has not become the spontaneous expression in our lives.  The way we react tells us much about our heart. 

The apostle Paul asked three times to have the thorn in his flesh removed.  No; the trial was a blessing.  Thereafter, instead of merely enduring it, he gloried in it.  How did he come to this?  How can we?

By the same way that Paul reached it: a new revelation of the Lord Jesus.  Nothing but the presence of God can reveal and expel self. …the presence of Jesus banishes every desire to seek anything in ourselves.

We will come to delight in humiliation, as this prepares us for ever fuller manifestations of Christ in us.  Have we come to the point of regarding a reproof, whether just or unjust, a reproach, whether from friend or enemy, or any injury, as an opportunity for proving that Jesus is all to us?  The deeper the humility, the greater the holiness.

…the deepest happiness of heaven is to be so free from self that whatever is said of us or done to us is swallowed up in the thought that Jesus is all, and we are nothing.

The greater the humiliations endured, the more power and presence of Christ. 

…take every opportunity to humble yourself before God and man. … Accept with gratitude everything that God allows from within or without, from friend or enemy, in nature or in grace, to remind you of your need for humbling and to help you in it.

Yet the danger of pride is always greater and nearer than we think.  And for this, we should be glad that the grace for humility is greater and nearer still. 

Christ will humble us and keep us humble … We shall find that the deepest humility is the secret of the truest happiness, of a joy that nothing can destroy.

Redemption is fully in God’s hands, yet an earnest attempt to listen and obey is the joint work of the redeemed and God.  Such an attempt will result in the painful awareness of the depth of our pride and the powerlessness of our ability alone to conquer it.

…the humbling of the proud heart with which the penitent saint so often casts himself before God is rewarded with the “more grace” of the humble heart.

And this is the light yoke, because as we humble ourselves, God gives the grace to live ever more humbly.  The yoke grows lighter as we hand to God, with His grace, more of the burden to Him. 

The presence and the power of the glorified Christ will come to them that are of a humble spirit. … Make His glory your motivation to humble yourself…

Why has our faith availed us so little in our pursuit of holiness?  It is exactly here: pride in the place of humility.  A lack of understanding that Christ-like humility is the most essential element of the life of holiness that we sought but could not find.

Conclusion

2 Corinthians 12: 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

He that humbles himself will be exalted. 

May God teach us to believe that to be humble, to be nothing in His presence, is the highest attainment and the fullest blessing of the Christian life.

Of this, Jesus is the proof.