Pride is killing what God’s trying to build in your life. You can’t receive correction because you’re too defensive. You can’t admit mistakes because you’re too concerned about your image. You can’t serve others because you think certain tasks are beneath you. Your need to be right, be recognized, and be respected is exhausting everyone around you, including yourself. Meanwhile, opportunities pass you by because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less. It’s having an accurate view of who you are: loved by God, but not the center of the universe. Grace flows to humble people because they know they need it. They’re quick to admit when they’re wrong, willing to learn from anyone, and secure enough in God’s approval that they don’t need everyone else’s.
These verses reveal that humility unlocks blessings pride blocks, that grace covers what performance never could, and that the pathway to honor runs straight through humility. The life you want requires laying down the pride that’s destroying you.
Bible Verses About Humility And Grace
1. James 4:6 – God Opposes the Proud but Shows Grace to the Humble
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
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2. 1 Peter 5:5-6 – Clothe Yourselves With Humility
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
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3. Proverbs 22:4 – Humility Is the Fear of the Lord
Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.
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4. Philippians 2:3-4 – Value Others Above Yourselves
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
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5. Micah 6:8 – Walk Humbly With Your God
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
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6. Ephesians 2:8-9 – It Is the Gift of God
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
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7. Proverbs 11:2 – With Humility Comes Wisdom
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
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8. Matthew 23:12 – Those Who Humble Themselves Will Be Exalted
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
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9. Colossians 3:12 – Clothe Yourselves With Humility
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
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10. Romans 12:3 – Do Not Think of Yourself More Highly
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
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11. Proverbs 16:18-19 – Pride Goes Before Destruction
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
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12. James 4:10 – Humble Yourselves Before the Lord
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
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13. 2 Corinthians 12:9 – My Grace Is Sufficient for You
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
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14. Luke 14:11 – Everyone Who Exalts Himself Will Be Humbled
For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
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15. Proverbs 15:33 – Humility Comes Before Honor
Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor.
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16. Philippians 2:5-8 – He Made Himself Nothing
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
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17. Romans 3:23-24 – All Have Sinned and Fall Short
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
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18. Proverbs 29:23 – Pride Brings a Person Low
Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.
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19. 1 Peter 5:5 – God Opposes the Proud
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
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20. Titus 3:4-5 – He Saved Us, Not Because of Righteous Things
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
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21. Matthew 11:29 – I Am Gentle and Humble in Heart
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
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22. Proverbs 18:12 – Before a Downfall the Heart Is Haughty
Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
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23. Galatians 6:14 – May I Never Boast Except in the Cross
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
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24. 2 Chronicles 7:14 – If My People Will Humble Themselves
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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25. Romans 5:8 – While We Were Still Sinners
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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26. Proverbs 3:34 – He Mocks Proud Mockers but Shows Favor
He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
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27. Zephaniah 2:3 – Seek Righteousness, Seek Humility
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.
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28. 2 Corinthians 8:9 – Though He Was Rich, Yet for Your Sake
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
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29. John 3:30 – He Must Become Greater, I Must Become Less
He must become greater; I must become less.
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30. Isaiah 57:15 – I Live With the Contrite and Lowly
For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
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31. Hebrews 4:16 – Let Us Approach God’s Throne of Grace
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
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32. Proverbs 27:2 – Let Someone Else Praise You
Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.
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33. 1 Corinthians 15:10 – By the Grace of God I Am What I Am
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
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34. Psalm 25:9 – He Guides the Humble in What Is Right
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
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35. Romans 11:6 – If by Grace, Then It Cannot Be Based on Works
And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
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Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About Humility And Grace
Humility and grace are inseparable. Grace can’t flow to proud people because they won’t receive it. They’re too busy earning, performing, and proving themselves to accept something freely given. Humble people know they need grace because they’re brutally honest about their weaknesses, failures, and inability to save themselves. That honesty opens the door for God’s power to work through their weakness.
The consistent pattern in Scripture is clear: God opposes pride but gives grace to the humble. Pride leads to disgrace and destruction. Humility leads to wisdom, honor, and exaltation. Jesus modeled this perfectly. He was God in flesh, yet He made Himself nothing, took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself to death on a cross.
That’s why God highly exalted Him. The pathway to greatness in God’s kingdom runs through humility, not self-promotion. When you humble yourself, God lifts you up. When you exalt yourself, God brings you down. Grace is available in unlimited supply, but pride blocks access to it. The moment you admit you need help, that you don’t have it all together, that you’re completely dependent on God, grace rushes in.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, I’ve been living in pride, and I didn’t even realize it. I’ve been more concerned about my image than Your glory, more focused on being right than being humble, more invested in promoting myself than serving others. I’m sorry. I need Your grace more than I need my reputation.
Help me to humble myself instead of waiting for circumstances to humble me. Teach me to value others above myself, to admit when I’m wrong, and to receive correction without being defensive. Break the pride that’s blocking Your grace from flowing in my life.
Show me the areas where I’m still trying to earn what You’ve freely given. Help me to rest in Your grace instead of performing for Your approval. Make me secure enough in Your love that I don’t need constant recognition from others.
I want to be like Jesus, who humbled Himself even though He had every right to exalt Himself. Clothe me with humility, fill me with grace, and use my life to point others to You instead of to myself.
In Jesus’ Humble Name, Amen.