Beneath my dignity?

“One mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.” — Luke 3:16.

... [N]o form of holy service is to be lightly set by.

To unloose the latchets of Christ’s shoes might seem very trivial; it might even seem as if it involved the loss of self-respect for a man of position and influence to stoop to offices which a servant might quite as well perform. Why should I bring myself down to that? I will learn of Christ; I will distribute bread among the multitude for Christ; I will have my boat by the sea shore ready for Christ to preach in, or I will go and fetch the ass upon which he shall ride in triumph into Jerusalem: but what need can there be for the disciple to become a mere menial? Such a question as that is here for ever silenced, and the spirit which dictates it is practically rebuked.

Nothing is dishonorable by which Jesus may be honored. Nothing lowers a man if thereby he honors his Lord. It is not possible for any godly work to be beneath our dignity; rather ought we to know that the lowest grade of service bestows dignity upon the man who heartily performs it. Even the least and most obscure form of serving Christ is more high and lofty than we are worthy to undertake.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Loosing The Shoe-Latchet," delivered March 31, 1872. Image by Charles Knowles under Creative Commons License.