He must increase and I must decrease.

John 3:30 is something said by John the Baptist. "He must increase, but I must decrease".  A very simple and concise statement, yet a very deep and thought provoking one for us. 
This was in response to reports he heard that Jesus was baptising more people than Himself. It reveals what was in John's heart at this point. Instead of becoming resentful and envious, instead of becoming bitter, or feeling self pity and jealousy, he responded with the right attitude. He knew that he wasn't the Messiah and had only come to point people to Him. At no point did he ever want more than that in his life. 
What are we doing in response to Covid-19 and the strange circumstances we find ourselves in? Our lives have changed dramatically, with our work situations changing (for most people). Places of entertainment and eating out have closed. Our life groups have changed. No longer can we go for a drive or visit friends and family or even go to church! There have been loss of jobs amongst us. I could go on. 
I feel like it's been a stripping away of our liberties which we took for granted, a stripping away of a lot of things that brought satisfaction and fulfilment to our lives, a stripping away of things that sometimes even took greater priority than God and His kingdom. It's been painful and uncomfortable for most of us to say the least.
When John the Baptist was faced with what seemed like a stripping away of his job and his ministry, and everything he knew to be his life, he responded with the right spirit. "Jesus must increase and I must decrease". 
In these uncertain and painful times, my prayer is that my heart and yours would have the same response: May Jesus increase in our lives and let Him be Lord of Lords, for we are nothing. Let nothing take the place of sitting at His feet like Mary instead of Martha, of wanting to look into His face, seek His counsel, spend time just lingering in His presence, instead of feeling like we've ticked off something on our to do list for the day. Instead of time with Him being a chore, may it be a joy and where we meet Him face to face, giving Him our all and hearing all He has to say, in order to listen and obey. May nothing ever compete for pure devotion and obedience to Jesus in our lives. 
May He increase and we decrease. 
I pray that as a church, we would use this time to draw close to Jesus like never before and truly seek to decrease as He increases in our lives. I pray that we would come out the other side, having passed the test, refined and purer. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prayer: the key to unlocking and entering into God's will

Image
Oftentimes, in our lives, we get so side tracked by so many things that we forget one of the most important keys to walking in everything God has for us on earth and that is 'prayer'. I hope my blogs provide some encouragement when you are struggling in this area to keep going. I know it's not always easy to pray, but when we do, we gain far more from it that we can imagine. It's any wonder the enemy will do all he can to stop us from praying, both personally and corporately.  God is all sovereign and all powerful and can do anything. Yet, He has given us a key to unlocking His will on earth and that is 'prayer'.  Imagine God's will to be like a house that God has built for you and wants to give you. For you to go in and live in and enjoy it, you need a key. Well, prayer is the key that will cause you to enter in and possess God's will for your life. We see it time and time again in the Bible when God was waiting on a man/woman to pray for His...
Read more

We can approach the Throne of Grace anytime!

Happy New Year! Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" We serve a God who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!  His throne is unlike   any   earthly king's throne. Besides it being the most amazing throne, filled with His glory and majesty that is incomprehensible with our human minds, it is also a throne of 'grace'. Our God is   so  filled with grace, so much so that the writer of Hebrews calls His throne, the 'throne of grace'! Grace is God's unmerited favour, His kindness, generosity of disposition and also His   empowerment. We can approach this throne of grace without fear and trepidation. We can approach this throne of grace freely, boldly and confidently because of our trust in Jesus and His redemption in our lives. We do this so that 'we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need...
Read more

Consecration enables us to hear God clearly and receive empowerment

Image
Well, it seemed like yesterday when we said goodbye to 2023 but here we are in February already!  All of January, we've been focusing as a church on the topic of 'Set Apart' which includes the areas of holiness, being consecrated to God and living in obedience and in accordance with our calling. The early apostles and believers were asked by Jesus to stay in the city of Jerusalem, until they were empowered by being baptised in the Holy Spirit. In obedience to Him, they waited patiently, gathering together and praying regularly. It was during one of these times of prayer, God spoke clearly lead them to choose Matthias to replace Judas (who betrayed Jesus).  Later on, during one of these times of prayer together, God sent the Holy Spirit and baptised them, they began to speak in tongues and received the power of the Holy Spirit which dramatically changed their lives to living in courage and boldness to preach the gospel!  You can read about this in Acts 1 and 2.  We le...
Read more