Mark 1:7–8 — “⁷And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

God chose John the Baptist to publicly prepare the way for His Messiah. Was John worthy for such a task? It would have been quite easy for him to think so. Out of all the people in the world and out of all the people in history, God choose me. I must be something special! John could have leaned into the mindset that God was lucky to have him on His team promoting His Messiah. Ironically, John’s attitude was the opposite and he declared it publicly; “I am not worthy to stoop down and untie” the strap of His sandals.

Slaves were expected to do things like removing their master’s sandal. John does not feel worthy enough to act as a slave for the coming Messiah.

John’s attitude struck me in my devotions recently. He feels unworthy! Is John degrading himself? Is this a humble public posture he assumes to make himself look good? I don’t think so. Rather, John understood something fundamental about himself.

John wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Paul stated (1 Cor. 15:9) that he was “unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” A centurion replied to Jesus and said (Matt. 8:8), “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”

What was it that caused these men to believe themselves unworthy of preparing the way for the Lord, of being His apostle, and having Jesus come into their home? They were struck with their own sinfulness.

And so we wonder, are we unworthy too? Yes, we are. We don’t deserve salvation, adoption, or the positions God gives us. We don’t deserve His Spirit and the gifts He bestows. I don’t deserve to be a pastor. Our sin has made us unworthy. But does that make us worthless and degraded to think this way, that we are unworthy sinners? Not at all! Rather, it invigorates us. Our lives are marked by God’s underserved amazing grace. We are humbled and joyful to serve, not because of anything we’ve done or merited to do so. But because of His kindness to make sinners like us something useful for His glory.

We are not worthy even to stoop down to the ground and untie Jesus’ sandals. Yet He has brought us up from the ground and wrapped His saving arms around us and made us to be a part of His eternal family. Yes I’m unworthy to come near to Him. But He has made me so much more.