Best Christian Books on Humility: 13 Classics to Read Free
If you read one book on humility, make it Andrew Murray's Humility: The Beauty of Holiness. It has twelve short chapters and takes about two hours. Murray shows that humility is not thinking badly of yourself. It is the creature's glad dependence on God, and it is the root of every other grace. If you want a single sermon instead, read Spurgeon's "Pride and Humility" in his Six Sermons.
The old writers agreed on a few things. Pride is the first sin and the root of the rest. Humility is not something you can manufacture by trying to feel small; you learn it from Christ, who was "meek and lowly in heart." It shows itself less in what you say about yourself than in how you treat other people. And God has tied His promises to it. He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James 4:10
Here are thirteen of the best books on humility in TheWay Library, all free to read, ordered so you can start simple and go deeper.
Start here
1. Humility: The Beauty of Holiness, by Andrew Murray
Murray gives three reasons to be humble: we are creatures, we are sinners, and we are saints. Then he builds on the first. Pride was the root of the fall, and Christ redeemed us by humbling Himself, so humility is "the secret of redemption." He studies Jesus' own lowliness, the quarrelling disciples before Pentecost, humility in daily life, and why pride makes faith impossible. Chapter 6 is the one that stings. Murray says your humility before God is only as real as your humility with the people around you.
Humility, as it is the mark of Christ the heavenly, will be the one standard of glory in heaven: the lowliest is the nearest to God.
Humility, chapter 4
See our summary of Humility and Andrew Murray's humility quotes. Read Humility.
2. Six Sermons, by C. H. Spurgeon
Six early sermons by the young London preacher. The fourth, "Pride and Humility," on Proverbs 18:12, is one of the clearest short treatments of the subject anywhere. Spurgeon says false modesty isn't humility at all. If God gave you a gift, the humble thing is to own it and use it for Him.
Humility is to think of yourself, if you can, as God thinks of you.
Six Sermons, Pride and Humility
3. The Pharisee and the Publican, by John Bunyan
Bunyan's long discourse on Christ's parable of the two men who went up to the temple to pray (Luke 18:10-14). He takes the Pharisee apart phrase by phrase: his standing "with himself," his list of sins he hadn't done, and the pride that turned his prayer into a boast. Then he turns to the Publican's downcast eyes and short cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner." This is humility at its root: giving up every claim of your own and taking the righteousness of Christ.
Shame for sin argueth sense of sin, yea, a right sense of sin, a godly sense of sin.
The Pharisee and the Publican
Read The Pharisee and the Publican.
4. Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds
Bounds ties prayer to the things it can't do without, and the second chapter is "Prayer and Humility." He walks through the Pharisee and the Publican too, and shows that pride and self-praise shut the door of prayer.
Our prayers must be set low before they can ever rise high.
Essentials of Prayer, chapter 2
More of his books are in our guide to E. M. Bounds' books. Read Essentials of Prayer.
Humility in daily life
5. A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit, by Matthew Henry
The great commentator's treatise on "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:4). Meekness, he says, is the spirit that governs anger and bears provocation, and quietness is its settled fruit. He gives Scripture examples, especially Moses and Christ, then the times meekness is most needed: when you give or take a rebuke, when you are wronged, when you disagree. He ends with practical rules for getting it.
As he was famous for faith, so was he for meekness; for the more we have of faith toward God, the more we shall have of meekness toward all men.
A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit, chapter 5
6. Pax Vobiscum, by Henry Drummond
A short address, under an hour, on Christ's words "learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest." Drummond argues that rest is the effect of a cause. Restlessness comes from a self-centered life, and rest comes when you learn Christ's meekness and take His yoke.
The ceaseless chagrin of a self-centred life can be removed at once by learning Meekness and Lowliness of heart.
Pax Vobiscum, Effects Require Causes
7. The Seven Deadly Sins, by James Stalker
Stalker takes the old list in its medieval order and starts with pride, the root of the rest. He describes each sin in its modern forms and shows how Christ overcomes it. The chapter on pride is short and searching, and the chapter on envy is a good test of whether your humility is real.
The essence of sin is selfishness, and pride is the inordinate assertion of self; it would annihilate others, and it disdains to be prescribed to even by God.
The Seven Deadly Sins, Pride
8. The Overcoming Life, by D. L. Moody
Seven plain sermons. The title sermon calls pride one of the enemies a Christian has to fight, and a later sermon, "Humility," makes the point Moody is remembered for.
A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility.
The Overcoming Life, Humility
See Who Was D. L. Moody? Read The Overcoming Life.
Humility in the Bible
9. John the Baptist, by F. B. Meyer
Meyer's devotional life of the fearless prophet who bowed the moment he met Jesus. Chapter 9 dwells on John's joy in saying "He must increase, but I must decrease," and chapter 12 explains why Christ called him the greatest born of women.
The greatness of John was proved in this, that like his Lord he was meek and lowly in heart.
John the Baptist, chapter 12
10. Blessed Are Ye, by F. B. Meyer
Short talks on the Beatitudes, which Meyer pictures as eight gates into the city of blessedness. The first gate is poverty of spirit, "the key to the kingdom," and Meyer shows how James and John forgot it when they asked for the best seats. Read Blessed Are Ye.
Go deeper
11. The Saints' Happiness, by Jeremiah Burroughs
Forty-one Puritan sermons on the Beatitudes. The long opening section on the poor in spirit is the richest thing on humility in this list, and the three sermons on meekness separate true spiritual meekness, which has zeal in it, from a mild temper.
Some men are proud of their vices, but the poor in spirit is humble at the sight of his graces.
The Saints' Happiness, Sermon III
If you like Burroughs, see our guide to the best Puritan books. Read The Saints' Happiness.
12. Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon, Series 15
A volume of seventeen sermons from the 1880s. Read the fifth, "Humility the Friend of Prayer," on Jacob's words, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies." Spurgeon shows that the same things that humble us give us reasons to pray.
Prayer is a suitable employment for a sinner, and a sinner is the best person to exercise prayer.
Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon, Series 15, Humility the Friend of Prayer
13. The Works of John Wesley, Volume 7
This volume holds no writing of Wesley's own. It holds his abridged editions of other writers. The longest piece is The Christian Pattern, his version of Thomas à Kempis's Imitation of Christ, whose short chapters on humility and inward peace have been read for five hundred years. Four works of William Law come with it.
If thou didst know the whole bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers by heart, what would all that profit thee, without the love of God?
The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 7, The Christian Pattern
How to read these books
Don't read about humility to feel humble. These writers would tell you that's another form of pride. Read a chapter of Murray, then watch how you treat the next person who annoys you. Spurgeon's sermon and Moody's are good for a single sitting. Burroughs and the Imitation are better taken slowly over weeks.
Humility runs through the classics on holiness and character. See our guides to the best books on holiness and the best Christian devotional classics. More of these authors' books are on their pages: Andrew Murray, C. H. Spurgeon and F. B. Meyer.