Humility

First published in 1884, ‘Humility’ is a classic book on the trait of holiness by Andrew Murray, a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. Humility is the most neglected teaching of Jesus Christ. In this book, Andrew Murray explores how vital humility is to the understanding and practice of Christianity. This is perhaps the best book ever written on the subject.

In this work, Andrew Murray explains the self-sacrifice and perfect humility of Jesus Christ. Murray highlights the need to not just admire this quality but also strive to impersonate it. To live one’s life as a servant is the call and necessity of every Christian. Humility and the denial of one’s self are shown here to be truly essential to the Christian life and to all who claim to follow Jesus. It remains a popular source of motivation over 100 years after its first publication.

Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was an amazingly prolific Christian writer. He lived and ministered as both a pastor and author in the towns and villages of South Africa. Some of Murray's earliest works were written to provide nurture and guidance to Christians, whether young or old in the faith; they were actually an extension of his pastoral work. Once books such as Abide in Christ, Divine Healing, and With Christ in the School of Prayer were written, Murray became widely known, and new books from his pen were awaited with great eagerness throughout the world.
He wrote to give daily practical help to many of the people in his congregation who lived out in the farming communities and could come into town for church services only on rare occasions. As he wrote these books of instruction, Murray adopted the practice of placing many of his more devotional books into thirty-one separate readings to correspond with the days of the month.
At the age of seventy-eight, Murray resigned from the pastorate and devoted most of his time to his manuscripts. He continued to write profusely, moving from one book to the next with an intensity of purpose and a zeal that few men of God have ever equaled. He often said of himself, rather humorously, that he was like a hen about to hatch an egg; he was restless and unhappy until he got the burden of the message off his mind.
During these later years, after hearing of pocket-sized paperbacks, Andrew Murray immediately began to write books to be published in that fashion. He thought it was a splendid way to have the teachings of the Christian life at your fingertips, where they could be carried around and read at any time of the day.
One source has said of Andrew Murray that his prolific style possesses the strength and eloquence that are born of deep earnestness and a sense of the solemnity of the issues of the Christian life. Nearly every page reveals an intensity of purpose and appeal that stirs men to the depths of their souls. Murray moves the emotions, searches the conscience, and reveals the sins and shortcomings of many of us with a love and hope born out of an intimate knowledge of the mercy and faithfulness of God.
For Andrew Murray, prayer was considered our personal home base from which we live our Christian lives and extend ourselves to others. During his later years, the vital necessity of unceasing prayer in the spiritual life came to the forefront of his teachings. It was then that he revealed the secret treasures of his heart concerning a life of persistent and believing prayer.
Countless people the world over have hailed Andrew Murray as their spiritual father and given credit for much of their Christian growth to the influence of his priceless devotional books.

Andrew Murray’s profound Christian classic, "Humility: The Beauty of Holiness," strips away the superficial layers of modern spirituality to expose the absolute bedrock of a genuine relationship with God. Written in the late nineteenth century by the renowned South African pastor and author, this brief but deeply penetrating book presents a radical thesis: humility is not merely one virtue among a list of desirable character traits, but rather the foundational grace upon which all other spiritual fruit is built. Murray argues that without true humility, all other virtues are inherently flawed and tainted by self-interest. He positions humility as the very essence of what it means to be a creature in relation to a Creator, and the defining characteristic of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, challenging readers to reevaluate the core motives of their own hearts.

The foundation of Murray’s argument lies in his understanding of the original relationship between God and humanity. He posits that the primary duty and highest glory of any created being is to be an empty vessel, entirely dependent on God for life, power, and goodness. Humility, therefore, is not a painful self-degradation or an exercise in forced self-loathing; it is simply the honest acknowledgment of reality. It is the creature taking its rightful place of absolute dependence before the Creator. When a person is truly humble, they realize they have nothing of their own to boast about, and that everything they possess—every breath, every talent, every moment of grace—is a continuous gift from a loving Father.

In stark contrast to this beautiful dependence stands the destructive force of pride, which Murray identifies as the root of all sin and the catalyst for the fall of both humanity and the angelic host. Pride is essentially the creature attempting to be self-sufficient, stepping out of its God-ordained dependence to claim glory and autonomy for itself. Murray forcefully argues that every sin, struggle, and sorrow in the human experience can ultimately be traced back to this original infection of pride. Because pride is the very antithesis of God’s nature, it creates an impenetrable barrier between the human soul and divine grace. The terrifying reality, according to Murray, is that pride can easily infiltrate even our most religious activities, turning our prayers, worship, and service into monuments to our own ego.

To remedy this catastrophic state, Murray points directly to the person and work of Jesus Christ, viewing the entire story of redemption as the restoration of lost humility. Christ’s incarnation was the ultimate act of self-emptying. He left the glory of heaven not just to teach or to perform miracles, but to perfectly model what a life of total, joyous dependence on the Father looks like. Murray highlights that Jesus repeatedly stated He could do nothing of His own accord, speaking only the words the Father gave Him and doing only the Father’s will. This, Murray insists, is the true secret of Christ’s power and peace: He was entirely devoid of self-will, offering Himself as a perfect, unresisting channel for God's life to flow through.

This divine humility was not just a theological concept for Jesus; it was the practical reality of His daily existence, culminating in the crucifixion. Christ’s willingness to suffer indignity, betrayal, and a shameful death without defending Himself is the ultimate expression of a life completely surrendered to God. Murray challenges his readers to recognize that salvation is not merely a legal transaction that secures a place in heaven, but an invitation to partake in the very life and nature of Christ. To be a follower of Jesus, therefore, means embracing His distinct brand of humility. It means stepping off the throne of one’s own life and allowing the mind of Christ to dictate every thought, reaction, and ambition.

Murray uses the early disciples as a powerful, relatable example of the struggle against the ego. Despite walking side-by-side with the incarnate Son of God, witnessing His miracles, and hearing His teachings, the disciples were constantly plagued by bickering and competition over who among them was the greatest. They possessed a genuine love for Jesus, yet their hearts remained thoroughly infected by pride. Murray uses this to demonstrate a sobering truth: mere exposure to religious instruction, or even earnest attempts at morality, cannot eradicate the deeply entrenched root of pride. It was only after the crucifixion broke their self-confidence, and the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, that the disciples were finally transformed from prideful men into humble servants.

One of the most piercing and practical aspects of the book is Murray’s insistence that our humility before God is definitively proven by our humility before other people. It is easy to feign a posture of lowliness in the quiet isolation of prayer, but the true test of our spiritual state occurs in the friction of daily relationships. How we react to criticism, how we handle slights, our willingness to serve unnoticed, and our ability to rejoice in the successes of others are the true barometers of our humility. If we harbor resentment, demand our rights, or feel easily offended, it is undeniable proof that the ego is still reigning on the throne of our hearts, regardless of our religious professions.

As the book approaches its climax, Murray addresses the inextricable link between humility and true holiness, a connection emphasized in the book’s subtitle. Often, earnest believers strive for holiness through rigorous discipline, intense study, or ascetic practices, only to become secretly proud of their spiritual achievements. Murray warns that any holiness that does not simultaneously deepen our sense of absolute nothingness is a dangerous counterfeit. True holiness is not about becoming spiritually elite; it is about becoming small. It is the process of the self decreasing so radically that only Christ remains visible. The holiest person is simply the one who is most acutely aware of their own inadequacy and most completely resting in God's grace.

Ultimately, Murray leads the reader to the inescapable conclusion that true humility requires nothing less than the death of the self. We cannot manufacture this virtue through our own willpower; in fact, trying to force ourselves to be humble is just another subtle manifestation of pride, as it relies on our own strength. Instead, we must consent to being crucified with Christ, willingly handing over our reputation, our desires, and our need for control. We must ask God to perform the surgical work of removing our pride, recognizing that this process may involve humiliation, failure, and the painful shattering of our self-image. It is only when we reach the end of ourselves that we can truly begin to live in the freedom of God.

In the end, "Humility" is a profoundly disruptive yet intensely comforting masterpiece. It shatters the illusions of self-made righteousness and calls the reader to a life of quiet, joyful surrender. Andrew Murray does not present humility as a heavy burden to bear, but rather as the ultimate liberation—the freedom from the exhausting demand to defend, promote, and elevate oneself. By embracing our rightful place as dependent creatures, we are finally freed to experience the fullness of God’s love and power. The book leaves the reader with the lingering, transformative realization that the path to true spiritual greatness is found only by walking downward into the beautiful, restful valley of humility.