“Grace never lifts a man so high that he forgets the dust he came from.” — Thomas Brooks

This captures a deeply biblical truth: the higher grace lifts us, the lower we bow.

True grace exalts Christ, not the Christian. Though it raises a sinner from the pit to the palace—justifying him, sanctifying him, and seating him in the heavenlies with Christ—it never permits him to forget that he was once dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1–6). Grace magnifies God's mercy precisely because it reminds us where we came from: the dust of our sin, the ruin of Adam, the corruption of the flesh.

If a man claims to have received grace and yet walks in pride, he has misunderstood its nature. Divine grace humbles. It causes a man to see that apart from Christ he is nothing, has nothing, and can do nothing. It teaches him to say with Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10), and with Job, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).

Thus, grace does not puff us up; it bows us down in awe. The higher we ascend in sanctification, the clearer we see the pit we’ve been pulled from—and the more we glory not in ourselves, but in the One who rescued us. A truly gracious man never forgets that he is, at best, a redeemed sinner. He remembers the dust—not to wallow in shame, but to worship in gratitude.

And so, if you are growing in grace, but also growing in humility, you can be sure the Spirit is at work in you. For grace never crowns a man with honor without also clothing him in humility.

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Related Resource

A Cabinet of Jewels, by Thomas Brooks