As you think about your obedience, and the pursuit of good things for God, it’s not just so that you can add on to your record and ascend the ladder of holiness, where other people can look around and say, “Oh yeah, you really got it all together, I wish I could be like you.” The pursuit of our sanctification is not so that we can climb up, in fact the way in which we pursue our sanctification is that we step down. You can do that for other people. Spend your obedience for the sake of others.
…
I don’t care where it is that you are on the continuum of perceived holiness and goodness, but you, no matter where you are on that, how much you understand, how much of The Bible you have read, you have something to offer: to be a blessing and to be a benefit and to encourage and to help other people. Oftentimes that greatest thing is your own brokenness and neediness. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about the fact that you can serve other people with your neediness. It helps people to see that they don’t have to be perfect.
Randy Edwards, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, Kernersville, NC