Humility And Holiness

Humility is the bloom and the beauty of holiness. If one is clothed in humility, they will have a humble spirit, have that lowliness that one is a servant to all others, and put themselves down and be servants. We have as much holiness as we have God. Humility or pride reveals itself not only in words or thoughts but in a tone and a way of speaking to others.

"Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." Isaiah 65:5.

We speak of the Holiness movement in our times, and praise God for it. We hear a great deal of seekers after holiness and professors of holiness teachings and meetings. The blessed truths of holiness in Christ, and holiness by faith, are being emphasized as never before. The great test of whether the holiness we profess to attain, is truth and life, will be whether it be manifested in the increasing humility it produces. In the creature, humility is the one thing needed to allow God's holiness to dwell in him and shine through him. In Jesus, the Holy One of God who makes us holy, a divine humility was the secret of His life, His death and His exaltation, the one infallible test of our holiness will be the humility before God and men which marks us. Humility is the bloom and the beauty of holiness.

The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility. Every seeker after holiness needs to be on his guard, lest unconsciously what was begun in the spirit be perfected in the flesh, and pride creeps in where its presence is least expected. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican. There is no place or position so sacred but, the Pharisee can enter there. Pride can lift its head in the very temple of God, and make His worship the scene of its self-exaltation.

Since the time Christ so exposed his pride, the Pharisee has put on the garb of the publican, and the confessor of deep sinfulness, equally with the professor of the highest holiness, must be on the watch. Just when we are most anxious to have our hearts in the temple of God, we shall find the two men coming up to pray. And the publican will find that his danger is not from the Pharisee beside him, who despises him, but the Pharisee within who commends and exalts.

In God's temple, when we think we are in the holiest of all, in the presence of His holiness, let us beware of pride. "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them." Job 1:6 "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector." Luke 18:11. It is in that which is just the cause for thanksgiving; it is in the very thanksgiving which we render to God. It may be in the very confession that God has done it all, that self finds its cause of complacency. Yes, even when in the temple, the language of penitence and trust in God's mercy alone is heard, the Pharisee may take up the note of praise, and in thanking God, be congratulating himself.

Pride can clothe itself in the garments of praise or of penitence. Even though the words, "I am not as the rest of men," are rejected and condemned, their spirit may too often be found in our feelings and language towards our fellow worshippers and fellow men. Would you know if this really is so, just listen to the way in which Churches and Christians often speak of one another. How little of the meekness and gentleness of Jesus is to be seen!

It is so little remembered that deep humility must be the keynote of what the servants of Jesus say of themselves or each other. Is there not many a Church or assembly of the saints, many a mission or convention, many a society or committee, even many a mission away in heathendom, where the harmony has been disturbed and the work of God hindered because men who are counted saints have proved in touchiness, haste, impatience, self-defense, self-assertion, sharp judgments and unkind words, that they did not each reckon others better than themselves, and that their holiness has but little in it of the meekness of the saints?

In spiritual history, men may have had times of great humbling and brokenness, but this is different from being clothed with humility, from having a humble spirit, from having that lowliness of mind in which each counts himself the servant of others, and so shows forth the very mind which was also in Jesus Christ. "Do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." Isaiah 65:5. What a parody on holiness! Jesus the Holy One is the humble One, the holiest will ever be the humblest. There is none holy but God therefore, we have as much of holiness as we have of God.

Our real humility is what we have of God, because humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all. The holiest will be the humblest. Alas! Though the bare-faced boasting Jew of the days of Isaiah is not often to be found, even our manners have taught us not to speak thus, how often his spirit is still seen, whether in the treatment of fellow saints or of the children of the world.

In the spirit in which opinions are given, work is undertaken, and faults are exposed, how often, though the garb be that of the publican, the voice is still that of the Pharisee. "God, I thank you that I am not like other men" Is there such humility to be found, that men shall indeed still count themselves less than the least of all saints, the servants of all? There is "love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant" 1 Corinthians 13:4 where the spirit of love is shed abroad in the heart, where the divine nature comes to a full birth, where Christ the meek and lowly Lamb of God is truly formed within.

There is the power of a perfect love that forgets itself and finds its blessedness in blessing others, in bearing with them and honoring them, however feeble they be. Where this love enters, there God enters. And where God has entered in His power and reveals Himself as all, there the creature becomes nothing. Where the creature becomes nothing before God, it cannot be anything but humble towards the fellow creature. The presence of God becomes not a thing of times and seasons, but the covering under which the soul ever dwells, and its deep abasement before God becomes the holy place of His presence where all its words and works proceed.

May God teach us that our thoughts, words, and feelings concerning our fellowmen are His test of our humility towards Him, and that our humility before Him is the only power that can enable us to always be humble with our fellowmen. Our humility must be the life of Christ, the Lamb of God, within us.

Let all teachers of holiness, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, and all seekers after holiness, whether in the closet or the convention, take warning. There is no pride so dangerous, because none so subtle and insidious, as the pride of holiness. It is not that a man ever says, or even thinks, "Do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." Isaiah 65:5. No, indeed, the thought would be regarded with abhorrence. But there grows up, all unconsciously, a hidden habit of the soul, which feels complacency in its attainments, and cannot help seeing how far it is in advance of others.

It can be recognized, not always in any special self-assertion or self-laudation, but simply in the absence of that deep self-abasement which cannot but be the mark of the soul that has seen the glory of God (Job 42: 5, 6; Isa.6:5). It reveals itself, not only in words or thoughts but in a tone, a way of speaking of others, in which those who have the gift of spiritual discernment cannot but recognize the power of self. Even the world with its keen eyes notices it and points to it as proof that the profession of a heavenly life does not bear any specially heavenly fruits.

O, brethren! Let us beware. Unless we make, with each advances in what we think holiness is and increase our study of humility, we may find that we have been delighting in beautiful thoughts and feelings, in solemn acts of consecration and faith, while the only sure mark of the presence of God, the disappearance of self, was all the time wanting. Come and let us flee to Jesus, and hide ourselves in Him until we are clothed upon with His humility.

That alone is our holiness.