"Less than the least of all saints."
I. HE WHO IS MOST HIGHLY GIFTED WITH DIVINE GRACE WILL THINK MOST LOWLY OF HIMSELF. St. Paul, the most gifted apostle, is most deeply conscious of his own unworthiness. We must distinguish between the endowment of grace and the acquisition of merit. To have much grace is only to be much favored. As a man grows in grace he grows in power of spiritual insight; and the result is twofold—he has more knowledge of his own true state and a better understanding of the claims of righteousness. Thus the standard is ever rising above his head in greater heights of holiness, while he is constantly seeing more clearly, freed from all hypocrisy and self-deception, the miserable weakness and sinfulness of his own character.
II. HE WHO THINKS MOST LOWLY OF HIMSELF WILL BE MOST FITTED FOR THE SERVICE OF CHRIST. It is not that unworthiness is itself a fitness for service. Both to be unworthy and to think one's self worthy are to be doubly unfit. But as Socrates thought he might be accounted wise only because he knew he was ignorant while all other Athenians were unconscious of their ignorance, the true servant of Christ is aware of the sinfulness which is common to him and to all others, but others are not so deeply conscious of it. This humble consciousness of unworthiness is helpful for service,