Today's post is short and simple. What will it take for us to see God do great things in our lives? I used to think it would only take God giving me the opportunity to do what it is I do. I used to act like it was all about what I wanted, could do with my talents and gifts, or what I felt I deserved given my training and education level. Well, it is amazing how God can disabuse us of such notions. Of all the men in Biblical times that had the right to expect more, I believe John the Baptist was the man. He was a miracle babe who had a large following. He was a fulfillment of prophecy who had a commanding presence that people were drawn to. Hey, he had a baptism record that would make any modern Baptist pastors envious. Yet, when pressed about his priorities he gave a simple, straight forward answer. We read it in John 3:30:
He must increase and I must decrease.
That's it. For John, his success had nothing to do with himself, it was all about Christ. It was about his ministry getting smaller if that meant Christ was even more renowned. How hard it is for us to actually be willing to say that we want Jesus to become so important that we will take a cut in popularity, prestige or power if it means that Jesus is proclaimed. Sometimes God has to remind us that success as Christians is actually measured by how Jesus is lifted up, not by how we are lifted up. After all, Jesus said it best:
"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” (John 12:32)
May we be about the business of lifting up Christ. It is my prayer that God will continue to teach me and mold me into the kind of man of God that is constantly lifting up Christ rather than myself. It is my prayer that there will be a whole more of Jesus and a whole lot less of me. That is what I call the increase-decrease principle of Christian success.
No comments:
Post a Comment