This is a powerful book for me, and I've read it several times. Murray (a late 19th c. pastor, very Christ-centered) writes, "When I look back at my own religious experience, or on the Church of Christ in the world, I stand amazed at the thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the discipleship of Jesus." This book is both convicting as to my own lack of humility and encouraging, making humility seem very enticing. Humility is "the mark of a soul that has s More...

This is a really amazing book about why being prideful is so terrible when we are Christians. It talks about the relationships between humility and holiness, sin, faith, death to self, happiness & exaltation. It also gives some wonderful examples about how Jesus displayed humility, as well as the examples of humility & lack of humility of his 12 disciples. There are so many important lessons here about being humble before God, but most importantly being humble in our everyday life among More...

p. 12 to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.
Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature. In fact, it is the root of every virtue.
p. 13 Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.
p. 16 And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and of our More...

Don't get me wrong. Murray is dead on when he talks about humility being the key aspect of holiness, with pride being the terrible hindrance to holiness. About halfway through I thought Murray started repeating himself and it got a little harder to focus as he talked about 'humility and ____' for several chapters.

I wish everyone would read Murray's treatise though, because humility is not only lacking in the church but in the world as a whole. As one of my (agnostic) friends says: "It's nice th More...

Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and fruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is unknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt, when that in which Christ found it and brings it, is so little sought? Until a humility which will rest in nothing less that the end and death of self; which gives up all the honor of men as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone: w More...

No one wants to think of him/herself as an arrogant, prideful, conceited person, but after reading this book, one will have no other choice, but to admit that the "number one virtue" eludes our understanding. The one thing the body of Christ needs to imitate is the one thing we refuse to practice...humility. The bragging, overlooking each other and boasting is idolatry.

I have shared this book with several friends. Their responses were staggering...no comments. Nothing was said after they claime More...

"The call to humility has been too little regarded in the church because it's true nature and importance has been too little apprehended. It is not a something which we bring to God, or He bestows. It is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we truly see how God is all and which we make way for God to be all."

"In the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess holiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness."

This book accurately defines true More...

Excerpt from Chip Ingram's thoughts: This is a hard book to read, but if you persist, you will be rewarded. The premise of this book is that the beauty of holiness is humility. The Son of God, the Creator of everything that is, left the glory of heaven and the worship of angels to be born on a dirty little planet to a teenager in a smelly stable. He considered others more important than himself. Instead of insisting on what was rightfully due him—worship—he focused on the needs of others, even t More...

At the beginning of my edition (Bethany House 2001, also pictured in the thumbnail), Susan Nikaido says: "This is a book to be underlined, mediated on, quoted, prayed over, and read again and again."

Don't read this book too fast--if you do, go back and think about what you've read. It's short but packed with precious nuggets of truth that deserve meditation and reflection.

My second time reading it, the words are just as challenging and piercing as when I first encountered this little gem. Excell More...

It hurts so much. Suffering. I can be blase about it. Love hurts and when it remains it still hurts. The pain endures living with it and living without it. And without him I think I am not aware of existing, as if I've evaporated into nothing, as if I am as clean and purified as air but composed of the essence of life, that thing that we call when we're thinking coherently, not the impulse you know, what I call spirituality. Then I find myself again. When I write I find myself. I find my existen More...

This book was formative in my thinking and life several years ago. It was good to read through it again and be reminded of the centrality of, the path to, and the blessings of humility.

Some meaningful quotes from the book:

As God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting One--who upholds all things by the Word of His power, and in whom all things exist--the relationship of man to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence. . . . Man need only look back to the origin of More...

WOW! A fairly accurate indicator of how I enjoy and digest a book is how many quotes I keep. I picked up more of Murray's phrasing than I probably have from the last five books I have read. And this was a very short book.

He looks at humility as primarily a vertical issue, the major indicator of one's relationship with God. The likes of How to Win Friends and Influence People can teach the outward habits of seeming humility, but Murray is not so easily satisfied. Real humility, he argues, require More...

This book is great as long as you don't mind reading past the language of old :). It's not that bad. It is certainly written about humility though. Here is one quote near the beginning of the book that sets the tone of the rest of it: "The life God bestows is imparted not once for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the crea More...

Humility isn't a very popular virtue these days, either inside or outside of the church. Some might even question whether it is a virtue. But the importance of humility is brought out over and over again in Scripture, especially in the New Testament. (i.e. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." 1 Peter 5:6 -- one of a multitude of Scriptures cited in this book.) I think the contemporary Christian church could use a good dose of humility; I More...

Note: This review discusses an unintentional effect of the book upon my personal history. I will, for now, leave the discussion of the book's content to other reviewers.

This little book was seminal for me. It is, I think, the earliest theological book I ever read. I say it is a "theological book", but to clarify: it is devotional theology, rather than academic theology — that is, it's chief interest is in changing you, rather than convincing you.

It set me, from the beginning, to squaring my theo More...

Humility by Andrew Murray is an excellent devotional on the subject of humility and a must read for every Christian. It is in the public domain. So the price is perfect. Below is the Table of Contents.

Preface: Why Focus on Humility?
1. Humility: The Glory of God’s Creation
2. Humility: The Secret of Redemption
3. Humility in the Life of Jesus
4. Humility in the Teaching of Jesus
5. Humility in the Disciples of Jesus
6. Humility in Daily Life
7. Humility and Holiness
8. Humility and Sin
9. Humility and Fa More...

An excellent challenge to give humility the central place in the Christian life it very infrequently gets. One interesting point he makes is how often pride is talked about, but how infrequently humility is talked about. I'm not sure what I thought the opposite of pride was!

One qualification: Murray teaches that humility ultimately means complete denial of self. This is a teaching Christian hedonism opposes: God never commands us to sacrifice anything, except for the end of gaining something gre More...

The thing I've always thought about humility is the moment you reckon you've attained it, you've failed! So, this is a book which helpfully points you away from yourself, and in the process stops you from trying too hard. Much of this is about surrender and allowing God then to do His work in our lives. Not concentrating on the mistakes we make in our lives but on the amazing grace we can receive in Christ. Jesus himself is the model- not doing anything without it being something that his Father More...

The author does a great job of explaining humility, we must humble ourselves before the Lord, and completely and totally give up self We must ask the Lord to be merciful, we must know in our hearts that God alone is great, how small I am, there is only God - not I. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. I am insignificant, the Lord is all, all glory and praise forever and ever to God.

A must read for all people! How often do we think of adding HUMILITY to our prayer requests, Murray suggests the importance of us keeping humble in all we do - or guess what comes creeping in? PRIDE!

Here is a quote from Humility by Andrew Murray, "...when we think we are in the holiest of all, in the presence of His holiness, let us beware of pride." Page 28.

I've had the book for a while and have started and stopped on a few occasions. Yes, it was challenging but mainly I stopped because it was hard to read stylistically. However, I listened to it as an audio book and found it easier to understand and was very encouraged.

Murray's premise seems to be that if you make more of Christ in your life, pride will begin to lessen and humility will be the ensuing fruit. It's a very simple idea that makes an awful lot of sense. He doesn't give a lot of "how-to More...

I read a version from 1896 scanned by Google. It's available for free at Google books.

The Lord used this book to open my eyes to the foundational nature of humility. I had never thought of humility as the root of all virtues.

In chapter one Murray writes, "Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue."

This book will challenge the Christian to see trials and unwelcome life ci More...

While this may not be the most academic, or even the most pastoral work on humility, it is a powerful read that will help people gain perspective in their Christian life.

Murray is much more biblically and theologically oriented against a more practical approach. But Murray's theology does impact how one pursues humility.

Murray's basic approach is that humility is the key to spiritual growth. Taking his example from Jesus and Paul, Murray demonstrates how their lives can be explained as living More...

I took this book on vacation and lost it! I was so disappointed. It was such a good book. One to read over and over and be reminded how ugly and destructive pride is and how necessary humility is to the Christian life. Found a copy for my kindle! A book to cherish and read often.

This book gave me refreshing insight on the importance of humility in the life of a Christian. Murray explained how the incarnation, life, death on the cross, and resurrection of Jesus were all examples of the fulfillment of Christ's humility. He continued to assert that humility is the root of all of the other virtues of a Christian's life. With out humility it is impossible to display love, joy, peace, patience, and all of the other fruits of the Holy Spirit. I learned how important, basic, be More...

While I loved this book, you have to be careful reading it or you will beat yourself silly with condemnation. However, it is a refreshing reminder of the humility of Christ. It will also help change your attitude if it has been too long since you have honestly looked at your heart.

A fairly difficult read given the vernacular of the time (about 120 years ago...) and the author's love of extremely clause laden run on sentences, the thesis is valuable nonetheless. Developed through various Biblical texts alone, Murray preaches that, "The highest glory of man is in being only a vessel, to receive and enjoy and show forth the glory of God. It can do this only as it is willing to be nothing in itself so that God may be all." This is humility and, in the opinion of the author, t More...

Written quite a while ago but SO VERY RELEVANT to our lives today as Christians. I would recommend this to EVERYONE who claims to love the Lord and who has a desire to seek Him more in their life. This book will shake you up and challenge you!

"The creature has not only to look back to the origin and first beginning of existence,and acknowledge that it there owes everything to God; its chief care,its highest virtue, its only happiness,now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness."

Wow, so far this book is completely changing the way I view my problems and the "character flaws" of others too. We are all so stinkin' proud and it is killing us. This one is going to take a long time to read/absorb.