“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 (NKJV)
These are the words of
John the Baptist when he found out that Jesus, the Messiah, had come. These words can very appropriately be applied
to the life of every believer.
We
wouldn’t think of skipping multiple meals or even one meal for that
matter. Well it’s no different with our
spirit man. He must be fed daily. Why must we do that? Like our bodies, our spirit man will become
weak and more easily fall victim to temptation. What can we do to feed our spirit man? We can feed our spirit regularly with the
word of God in the form of songs sung, sermons preached and the simple act of
reading the Bible. Fellowship with
others of like faith would give us a sense of accountability. The Lord must increase in our lives. We must decrease. If we don’t our deliberate choices will be in
constant conflict with God’s will. We do
not know what we’re doing, but we balk at admitting this. It would do our hearts good to read the Book
of Job paying special attention to the final four chapters where God starts
each proclamation with the words “Now
prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
We think we are so incredibly smart, but the fact is we are
astoundingly ignorant and often closed to new ideas. We know what we know by whatever means and
figure that is enough. Spiritual
expansion is unnecessary in our minds.
We believe, we go to church, we’re kind to others and we don’t kick our
dog, but it’s not enough. The Lord must
increase in our lives. We are to become
more like Christ in our thoughts, words, actions and reactions. The world wants to see Jesus. We are His
ambassadors, His representatives in this world.
It is imperative that we decrease in all areas; our thought processes,
our verbiage, how we act around
others and how we react to
others. Become more like Christ and lose
yourself in God. Until Christ’s Return,
walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource:
The Asbury Bible Commentary.
