"He must increase, but I must decrease" John 3:26-31 NKJV
With the popularity that John had, he could so easily have agreed with the people, that he was the Messiah, they would have believed him. However, he would have nothing to do with that. He knew his place and was happy and content with that. We should be the same; we should never attempt to be who we are not. We tend to copy and model ourselves on the people that we admire. Doing this, we end up not knowing who we are; and we live the lie. Like John, we should be content with who we are and with what we have.
If God wants to promote us, He will do. When we try to promote ourselves, we tend to become people-pleasers instead of God-pleasers. But notice John's words in verse 27: 'A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.' There is absolutely no chance that we can promote ourselves. If God wants this, he will do it Himself. The most important thing for us to do, is to be like Jesus by modelling ourselves on Him and no one else. In other words, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'
We often hear the term, 'Give me more, Lord, give me more,' This is people's way of asking God to pour more of the Holy Spirit into them. This, in itself, is not a bad thing, we all need to be topped up each day. However, we should always seek the giver, not the gift. Many get this the wrong way around and bombard God with this request. It is far better to: 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you' Matthew 6:33. Seek the giver first - Jesus and He will ensure you receive what He wishes to give you.
You know, we can read the bible from cover to cover and not completely understand it until we receive revelation from heaven. Many people have tried to make sense of scriptures, such as Revelation. This is not an easy book to understand and we need the Holy Spirit to give us the necessary insight into what it is saying to us. The Holy Spirit gives us the revelation and tells us the truth and what is to come (John 16:13). He is the authority to seek; He is the one who will help us decrease whilst we ensure that Jesus increases. We need to be Spirit-led.
Today, make the decision to allow Jesus to increase in every area of your life; by doing this, you will then be able to decrease.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.
Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers
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