He must increase

He must increase, but I must decrease. – John 3.30

At the end of John 3 we have John the Baptist's brilliant discourse on Jesus Christ. Some might have seen them both as possible ‘candidates’ for Messiah. They both fulfilled prophecy and both were well known teachers. Some thought that John was the Christ.

Well John sorted that our pretty quickly. In this discourse he points out that he is not the waited for Christ. Instead it is his cousin Jesus Christ.

I just want to point out one key phrase from this passage though – ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’

I point this out because it is such a vital truth for not only John, but all of us. John had his followers, he had people who thought he was Messiah, his disciples wanted to elevate him, but he said ‘Jesus must increase and I must decrease.’

Unless we grasp this concept we are never going to be able to serve God properly. Our world is all about increase; increase in money, increase in possessions, increase in prestige, increase popularity, increase in power, and so on and so on. Man is not considered a success unless he shows increase.

As a normal pattern of life there is nothing wrong with increase – if our hearts and desires are right. Sometimes God may allow those things to happen.

But if our desire and motive and goal in personal increase we err. Our desire should be that Christ increases in our lives. Instead of self-promotion our lives must be all about Christ promotion.

As we start out the day lets be sure that we live today in such a way that Christ increases in our life while we learn how to accept decrease.