He Must Increase..I Must Decrease

Heard one of the leader prayed a week ago and somehow set me on a meditative mood. During WIN, again the verse was used in prayer. John 3:30 ; " He must increase, I must decrease ". We knelt as we allow God to deal with us as we confess that many a times, we have put ourselves up above Christ.

As I meditate on this verse, I sensed the Lord dealing with me as I ran through the many events and situations that I have been in where I felt good and received praises for it. Many a situation I get elevated instead of Christ.

Do I look for recognition or praises whenever I complete a job well? Do others see me more than who I represent - Jesus? I must admit...the "I" stands out many times.

John, the Baptist had a good grasp on his place in the Kingdom … and Jesus' place! His goal in life was to fulfill the mission given to him, whatever that meant, even imprisonment and death if necessary. When his disciples got jealous because of Jesus' popularity, he promptly corrected them. Like John, we must know our place in the Kingdom. All our actions must point to Jesus and the attention must not be on us.

One practical point I could take away from this is to remind myself that the focus must not be on me, but Christ. To this end, I have to condition my heart to give God the glory as He rightly deserve, inwardly as well as outwardly in what I say. I must be conscious of what I do and what I say, in speech or in words, not to direct attention to myself but to Christ.

To quote from someone who put the message across in a most beautiful way :

"Look at a candle and how it burns. The more the light shines, the more the candle diminishes. What a beautiful illustration of the believer in Christ! The more he learns the gospel of Christ, the more precious Christ becomes and the less he thinks of himself. One who is truly the Lord's, shines forth the light of HIS righteousness, grace, goodness, mercy, forgiveness, and truth. In so shining, self does not get bigger and more noticeable--the CHRIST does! The glory is not to self but to HIM. John the Baptist said, "He must increase, I must decrease" (John 3:30)."

Christ be Glorified.

Amen.