"The life God bestows is imparted not once and for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His almighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue.
And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. When the now fallen angels began to look upon themselves with self-satisfaction, they were led to disobedience and were cast down from the light of heaven into outer darkness. When the Serpent breathed the poison of his pride - the desire to be like God, "knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5) - into the hearts of our first parents, they, too, fell from their high estate into all the wretchedness in which man is now sunk. In all heaven and earth, pride and exaltation are the gate and the curse of hell."
"All this is to make it known that pride can degrade the highest angels into devils, and humility can raise fallen flesh and blood to the thrones of angels. Thus, this is the great end of God's raising a new creation out of a fallen kingdom of angels. For this reason, it stands in its state of war between the fire and pride of the fallen angels, and the humility of the Lamb of God, It is here that the last trumpet may sound the great truth throughout the depths of eternity: that evil can have no beginning but from pride, and no end but from humility.
The truth is this: pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you. Under the banner of the truth, give yourself up to the meek and humble spirit of the holy Jesus. Humility must sow the seed or there can be no reaping in heaven. Do not look at pride as only an unbecoming temper, or at humility as only a decent virtue. The one is death, and the other is life; the one is all hell, the other is all heaven.
As much as you have of pride within you, you have of the fallen angel alive in you. As much as you have of true humility, so you have of the Lamb of God within you. If you could see what every stirring of pride does to your soul, you would beg of everything you meet to tear the viper from you, though it might mean the loss of a hand or an eye. If you could see what a sweet, divine, transforming power there is in humility, how it expels the poison of your nature and make room for the Spirit of God to live in you, you would rather wish to be the footstool of all the world than lack the smallest degree of it."
"Hence, it follows that nothing can redeem us but the true restoration of our lost humility, the original and only true relationship of man to God. Jesus came to bring humility back to earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. In heaven, He humbled Himself to become man. The humility He we see in Him, He possessed in heaven; it brought Him, and He brought it, from there. Here on earth "he humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death" (Phil 2:8). His humility gave His death its value, and so became our redemption. And now the salvation He imparts is nothing less than a communication of His own life and death, His own disposition and spirit. His own humility has become the ground and root of His relationship to God and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man by His life of perfect Humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.
And so the lives of the saved ones, of the saints, must bear this stamp of deliverance from sin and full restoration to both God and their original state. Their whole relationship to both God and man must be marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this, there can be no true abiding of God's presence or experience of His favour and the power of His Spirit. Without this, there can be no abiding faith or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only soil in which the graces take root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone assumes the right attitude before God and allows Him as God to do all."
- from Humility by Andrew Murray
