He must become greater....

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/worryfea/pride5.htm

John 3:30 says "He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less." This quote is from John the Baptist. I don't ever remember hearing this verse or seeing this verse anywhere, like on wall hangings, coffee mugs, book marks and the like. I'm guessing it isn't a very popular verse.

We like Bible verses that make us feel good or profess our faith. We don't much like the ones that call us on the carpet! And this one does. We often put ourselves first, as one greater than Christ. We want the worship service to fill us, the music to lift us, our prayers to grant us whatever we want/need.

This verse gives us the equation that sums up what our purpose is. We are to increasingly make Christ bigger in our lives and make ourselves smaller in comparison. We are to spend more and more time, money, brain power, activity on Christ and His work. AND we are supposed to spend more and more shrinking ourselves, shrinking our demands, shrinking our wants (outside of Jesus), shrinking our own self-importance.

As we mature in our relationship with Christ, the scales begin to tip away from us to weighing more heavily on Christ. It becomes more and more evident that we rely on Christ and that we love Him. We are not maturing in Christ if Jesus is not more evident in our activities and lives AND there is less of us (meaning we give more and expect less in return.)

At one point, we want and we want. We meet Christ and we want and we want but hopefully we share more. As we grow, we begin to push Jesus up front so people see less of us and more of Jesus. Hopefully, at some point, people see Jesus when they look at us because we get so small.

Jesus, May I get smaller and smaller as I walk with You. and more importantly, may You get greater and greater as I surrender more completely. Amen.

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