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He Must Increase

April 24, 2017 3 Comments

John the Baptist a cousin of Jesus was called to be Jesus’ forerunner. His ministry was specifically to prepare the hearts of the people to receive the ministry of Jesus. John knew that once Jesus ministry began to grow his would begin to decrease.

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

John was clearly speaking about the actual transition from his ministry to Jesus’; however, these words have meaning for our lives. As we journey through, this life Jesus place in our life should continue to increase.

Sadly over the past the church has made little about real discipleship. We have made our walk with Jesus more about us than him. We seem to think that if we believe in Jesus for salvation suddenly we will enter into a life of riches and of ease. However, this really is not what the Bible teaches.

 

We are more likely to treat Jesus as our fix-it-man rather than the redeemer of our very lives.

Throughout the Bible we see verse after verse that calls us to live a life of a servant, to take up our cross daily and to live as a living sacrifice. Jesus own disciples left everything to follow him.

Many people struggle to understand God because they try to confine him to logic and reason but that is not how God operates. Those things that seem foolish to our logic, God uses for his glory and our ultimate benefit.

True life, joy and peace is not found in trying to make our lives safe and neat. It is not found calling out to God every time circumstances seem to turn against us.  Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with praying for our needs. However, that should not be main goal of our faith. True joy and peace in the Lord is found when we give our lives fully to him. Jesus died so that we might have life. Life in Jesus is only found when we die to ourselves. He must increase in us so that we decrease.

True life in Christ is only found when we truly die to ourselves

Now the order of the words are important. Forcing ourselves to decrease is not the answer. The answer is to seek more and more for Jesus to consume us. It is not based on our effort but in the active work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we pray for his will to be done in our life we find him re-ordering our desires and passions. As we begin to live a life of obedience and pray for him to increase we will find ourselves decreasing.

As we pray for his will to be done in our life,

we find him re-ordering our desires and passions.

In this world will have difficulties and struggle. The walk of faith will most likely be messy but as Christ increases in our lives we will find the strength to endure and the peace of God that will see us through. Let us go all in and allow Jesus to increase in our lives.

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Filed in: All In, Faith

About the Author:

I am enthusiastic about helping others discover their purpose and grow into a deeper relationship with Jesus. It is great to see their eyes light up at their “Ah Ha!” moment when they discover they were created for something more. My hope is that this blog will help encourage and inspire you along your way. Join the conversation and take the time to share with me your own story. I have been married to my beautiful wife Janice for over 30 years. We currently live in McDonough Georgia with our daughter. Our two boys have left the nest and we have two wonderful grand kids. Of course we cannot forget about our dog Bear.