Do you suppose the apostle Paul ever had Christians telling him how great he was, how wonderful his sermons were, how talented a preacher he was? No doubt he did. That’s the nature of people. Some even went so far as to hold him up as “their preacher” and to claim, “I am of Paul” (1 Cor. 1:12). Do you think that went to Paul’s head?
Later in that same letter, Paul wrote, “I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle” (1 Cor. 15:9). Had the praise of people gone to his head? He was even more emphatic in his letter to the Ephesian brethren, when he described himself as “less than the least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8).
It is easy sometimes to begin to think (for one reason or another) that we are “all that.” We may think we deserve high praise for who we are and what we do. May we continually humble ourselves (1 Pet. 5:5; Phil. 2:3) and work continually to have a heart that says, “I am less than the least.”