Quotes About Humility

We are to come to the Word in a spirit of humility and contrition because we recognize that we are sinful, that we are often blind to our sinfulness, and that we need the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

We need to approach the Bible each day with a spirit of deep humility, recognizing that our understanding of spiritual truth is at best incomplete and to some extent inaccurate ... we should approach the Scriptures in humility and expect the Spirit to humble us even further as we continue being taught by Him from His Word.

We are to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, approaching every relationship and every circumstance in reference to Him.

All my labors are marred by sin and imperfection. As I think of every act I have ever done for God, I can only cry out, 'Oh, God, forgive the iniquity of my holy things.'"5

We need to ask God daily to search our hearts for sin that we cannot or will not see.

It is relatively easy to serve those above us — even the world expects this — but Jesus served downward.

If we are to master the scriptural principles of true biblical community, we must master this one: True greatness in the kingdom of heaven involves serving one another. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant" (Matthew 20:26).

one of the chief characteristics of a servant is that he serves downward — that is, to those who by the world's standards are beneath him in position or station in life.

Christianity is not a do-it-yourself thing.

If you and I are to appropriate God's grace in our times of need, we must see His sovereignty ultimately ruling in all the circumstances of our lives. And when those circumstances are difficult, disappointing, or humiliating, we must humble ourselves under His mighty hand.

It's not enough to agree that we do tolerate at least some of them. Anyone except for the most self-righteous person will acknowledge that. "After all, no one is perfect," may be our attitude. But to honestly face those sins is another matter. For one thing, it is quite humbling. It also implies that we must do something about them. We can no longer continue to ignore them as we have in the past.

when we complain about the weather, we are actually complaining against God

George MacDonald: "I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of. For to have been thought about—born in God's thoughts—and then made by God is the dearest, grandest, most precious thing in all thinking.

How futile and even arrogant for us to seek to determine what God is doing in a particular event or circumstance.

The prayer of a Christian is not an attempt to force God's hand, but a humble acknowledgment of helplessness and dependence. When we are on our knees, we know that it is not we who control the world; it is not in our power, therefore, to supply our needs by our own independent efforts; every good thing that we desire for ourselves and for others must be sought from God, and will come, if it comes at all, as a gift from His hands.3

God owes me no explanation. He has the right to do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants. Why? Because He's God. . .

The problem with self-righteousness is that it seems almost impossible to recognize in ourselves. We will own up to almost any other sin, but not the sin of self-righteousness. When we have this attitude, though, we deprive ourselves of the joy of living in the grace of God. Because, you see, grace is only for sinners.

Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.

That is, humility should be as much a part of us as the clothes we wear. We wouldn't think of appearing before other people without our clothes. And we shouldn't think of appearing before other people without deliberately clothing ourselves with an attitude of humility.

It is so easy for us to stand apart from the culture and do no more than express self-righteous judgmentalism toward it. But those of us who grieve deeply over our own sin will not do this. Instead we will mourn over the sins and wickedness of our nation and will pray most urgently that, just as we want God to be merciful to us, so we want Him to be merciful to our nation as a whole. This will be another expression of humility in action.

God wants us to walk in obedience—not victory.

In ancient times, when the king would visit remote areas of his kingdom, a team would be sent ahead to smooth the road for his chariot. Holes would be filled in and bumps would be smoothed out. In the same way, when the Holy Spirit touches human hearts, it cuts down pride and the love of pleasure and power. It increases humility and self-sacrificing love. John's mission was the same: to prepare the hearts of people for the coming King, so that they would be ready to accept Him.

I asked him what he thought of the Great Lakes now. I'm surprised at how much seamanship is required to sail them. I always thought they were for wussies, that only the oceans were worthy of tough guys like me. But in the ocean there's not much to hit, it mostly requires endurance. These lakes can kick your ass.

I turned down 'Some Like It Hot.' See how smart I am? I felt I couldn't bring anything funny to it. The outfit was funny. I don't need to compete with the wardrobe.