A Devotion from Charles Spurgeon

“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace

given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable

riches of Christ.” —Ephesians 3:8

The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to preach the gospel. He did not look

upon his calling as a drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while Paul was

thus thankful for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes,

the deeper it sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their abilities, because

they are untried; but the earnest worker soon learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, try

hard work; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for Jesus. If you

would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from the living God, attempt especially the

great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will know, as you never

knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you are. Although the apostle thus knew and

confessed his weakness, he was never perplexed as to the subject of his ministry. From his first

sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and

extolled the Son of God who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal efforts to

spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let “Christ and him crucified” be your ever recurring

theme. The Christian should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun is shining,

open their golden cups, as if saying, “Fill us with thy beams!” but when the sun is hidden behind

a cloud, they close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet

influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields itself to the

Sun of Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject which is both “seed for

the sower, and bread for the eater.” This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the

master-key to the heart of the hearer.