A Prayer of Humility
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee: I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Beware of Inflated Self-esteem
People who engage in murder, rape, and other forms of violence rarely suffer from low self-esteem, according to a review of nearly 200 studies. The study, published in Psychological Review, found that people whose self-esteem is unstable or inflated seem to be the most dangerous. “One major cause of violent response is threatened egotism, that is, a favorable self-appraisal that encounters an external, unfavorable evaluation.” Professor Roy F. Baumeister of Case Western Reserve University concludes that a little more modesty and humility would do more for society than boosting self imagine (Christian News, 3-4-96).

Scriptures to note: 2 Timothy 3:1-2: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, poud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…” Luke 9:23: “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

The tree falls with any gust of wind when the root is near the surface; the house which has a shallow foundation is soon shaken. High and wide as the noblest trees soon spread, so deep and wide their roots are sunk below; the more majestic and noble a pile of building, the deeper its foundation; their height is but an earnest of their lowliness; you see their height, their lowliness is hidden; the use of sinking thus deep is not plain to sight, yet were they not thus lowly, they could not be thus lofty. Dig deep, then, the foundation of humility; so only mayest thou hope to reach the height of charity; for by humility alone canst thou reach that Rock which shall not be shaken, that is, Christ.

Trees that, like the poplar, lift upward all their boughs, give no shade and shelter whatever their height. Trees the most lovingly shelter and shade us when, like the willow, the higher soar their summits, the lowlier droop their boughs.

The Way to Heaven
Christ comes in where there is humility. Along this humility, this flatness, this prostration of soul, as along a broad, sweeping avenue, the King of Glory rides in triumph into the human soul. Are we prostrate before Him? Has it come to this at last, that all our quibblings and all our questionings are silenced, and we are standing before the mighty Savior - never mightier, perhaps, than when here He stood clothed in His meekness and in all His gracious condescension? Oh, has it come to this, that we have lain down before Him and said: “I am not worthy”? “To this man will I look: To him that is humble and of a contrite heart, and who trembles at My word.”

If you want a short road to heaven, that is the road - lie down. That is why some of us are so long coming at salvation - because it needs humility. My brother, let the man who loves your soul as you do not love it yourself tell you the truth right to your face. It is because humility precedes salvation that, in the case of some of us, salvation is so indefinitely postponed. The pride of hell is in some hearts before me now. May Christ overcome it while we preach.

A good many are kept out of the service of Christ, deprived of the luxury of working for God, because they are trying to do some great things. Let us be willing to do little things. Let us remember that nothing is small in which God is the source. ~D.L. Moody

The Roman Centurion
The grand thing about this man, proud Roman though we might call him, was his humility. “I am not worthy,” and he went down, and down, and down, in tone and speech. “I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof. Speak the word only.” Toss a coin to this poor beggar out of your abundance, and it will be received most thankfully. Do not be deflected from your course to come to poor creatures like me and my slave. “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.”

Oh, for the tongues of men and angels! Oh, for the power of God Himself, with one great swoop to bring from the pedestal of their pride, their headiness, their high-mindedness and damnable indifference, men and women here, and humble them at the blessed feet of the Son of God! No wonder that the man got his blessing as quickly as the Almighty Saviour could send it.

It’s a little bit the fiddle, but a lot more who holds the bow. ~By Wilburn Wilson; From Tammy L. of MO

Pride, like a magnet, constantly points to one object, self; unlike the magnet, it has no attractive pole, but at all points repels. --Colton

Pride is to character, like the attic to the house- the highest part, and generally the most empty. --Gay

The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors in like a potato - the only good belonging to him is underground. --Thomas Overbury

The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. -- William Blake

Pride is the master sin of the devil. --Edwin Hubbell Chapin

Pride and grace never dwelt in one place. --James Kelly

Great is the difference betwixt a man's being frightened at, and humbled for, his sins. One may passively be cast down by God's terrors, and yet not willingly throw himself down as he ought at God's footstool. ~Thomas Fuller, From "A Wounded Conscience" [1655]