Grace For Your Day May 4

The great missionary Hudson Taylor was once asked to speak at a large Christian gathering in Australia. As he was being introduced, the host referred to him as "our illustrious guest." In response, Taylor stood quietly for a moment by the podium and then rather meekly replied: "My dear friends, I am not an illustrious guest. I am the little servant of an illustrious Master."
The Apostle Paul makes the same statement about himself in the Book of Ephesians when he says in 3:8-9:

"To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God."

Paul says that he is "the very least of all saints" which could be translated "less than the least" or "the littlest one of all." In other words, Paul says that he was nothing compared to Jesus. He was just the little servant of an illustrious Master. If his ministry was great, it was because of the riches of Christ and not because of his own.

This is important because it leads us to ask the question: Do we see ourselves that way today? Do you see yourself as the least of all the saints? If not, please tune into our YouTube Channel this Sunday morning as you will be confronted by a man who was. Join us at 9:30 as we study the words of a man who considered himself to be nothing.

We could ask this another way: Do you struggle with pride in the Christian life? I think we all do to some degree. Is it hard for you to be humble? If so, God will not use you. If you are proud, you will always be limited in what you can do for the Lord so you need to study this text. It is crucial for you to learn this lesson from a man like Paul. At a time when many of us feel like we can do so little for the Lord on account of the Coronavirus, we need to remember that the first requirement for an effective ministry is humility. The first ingredient for usefulness in the kingdom of God is to see ourselves as nothing.

Please join us as we learn how to do that over the weekend. This is a passage that should convict and challenge us all. I look forward to studying it with you and may the Lord keep you until then.

- Jeremy Cagle