He Must Increase!

"He must increase, but I must decrease. "
John 3:30

John the Baptist had it right. As long as I am “big” in my own eyes, and Jesus is “small,” everything else in life will be out of whack. I won’t see things as they really are. I’ll believe the lie that life ought to revolve around me and that my temporary happiness is really all that matters. Even my religion will serve my selfishness as I imagine that God is there to help me accomplish my own goals and figure out how I can have “my best life now.”

As long as I stand big in my own eyes, I am incapable of seeing or responding to the One Who alone is able to set me free. No, it is only when I am forced to climb down off the pedestal of self-worship that I become willing to turn and see the One who is worthy of true worship. It is only as I cease serving my own desires that I discover the One I was made to desire and Who alone is able to satisfy my heart’s true need. It is only when I am made to step off the throne of self-exaltation that I find the self-forgetfulness that lets me begin to be happy in Him.

Of course, I would never do any of this on my own. It is only when God, by an amazing and powerful grace, turns my heart from its infatuation with me, and sets my eyes upon the beauty and glory that is Christ and Him crucified, that my heart and mind become willing to turn from self-love to Christ-love (and that by faith alone!) It is only when mercy has taken hold of me, that I am enabled to repent and believe the good news that God will save a sinner like me!

How glad I am that God has done this – and that He keeps doing it every day – as I am allowed to hear His Word and believe His Gospel and find in Him One Who is worth forsaking all to have! My prayer is that God, if he never has before, would do the same for you this morning.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.