UNITED STATES
A WING AND A PRAYER
Carlin Lawrence carlin@agairupdate.com
The Least of the Apostles and Worst Sinner
The pride within humanity causes us to compare ourselves with our neighbors, friends, or other Christians.
B 24 | agairupdate.com
Paul wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9). Paul was an apostle, but he put himself at the bottom of that category of leaders. A few years later, after he walks with the Lord even longer, he writes to the Ephesians leaders, “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). As Paul is coming towards the end of his life, he writes to Timothy, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). This is the same man, that before his encounter with Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, declared that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, and concerning the Law, he was blameless (Philippians 3:4-6). The longer Paul walked with the Lord, the more he demotes himself from being the leader of the Pharisees, to the least of the apostles, to the least of the Christians, and now, he says about himself, “I’m the biggest sinner of all.” How can this be; is Paul becoming a worse and worse person, is he sinning more and more hideously, more and more frequently, is he becoming a more and more depraved person as he walks down the road of life? Absolutely Not! We would look at Paul and say that he is one of the most devout Christians who ever lived. But Paul discovered something that anyone who decides to walk closer and closer to the Lord will learn. The closer you get to the Lord, and the more intimate you become with the Lord, the more you realize
how far you are from His excellence, His holiness, His goodness and His righteousness. Prideful people are constantly lifting themselves up and putting other people down. But the consequences of pride are written throughout the Bible. The Bible has a lot to say about pride and humility. Speaking through Moses and Aaron, God said to Pharaoh, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me” (Exodus 10:3). Because of Pharaoh’s pride, God destroyed Pharaoh and his army! Speaking of God, the psalmist said, “For You will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks” (Psalm 18:27). Speaking through Micah, God said, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The pride within humanity causes us to compare ourselves with our neighbors, friends, or other Christians. But Paul wrote, “We dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12). Solomon wrote, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Proverbs 26:12). It’s a mistake to compare ourselves to other people, because we’re using the wrong standard to measure ourselves. When we do this we usually end up saying something like this: “Well, compared to him or her, I’m not so bad.” But
