He Must Increase
As I travel home from my third sabbatical as pastor of North Henry Baptist Church, one for every five years as pastor of this wonderful church family, God gave me the perfect verse to sum up what I have heard from Him as I read, studied, and prayed for four weeks. Jesus must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30) I know that John, the Baptist, was referring to his popularity waning and Jesus' increasing from that point, but it still speaks volumes to all of us, as believers.
Life can't be about us. Life must be about Jesus. Our needs must be less and less important to us, and knowing Him better and better must become more and more important. After all, Jesus is life, and He is the light of men. Without Him we are nothing, and we have nothing. Therefore, we must decrease, and He must increase, if we are to serve Him effectively.
When He increases, we see that He came to save the whole world. That means every person with whom we come in contact. It is up to us to be unselfish, and to spend time and effort to relate to them, so we can bring them to Jesus, as Andrew brought his brother, Simon Peter.
Finally, our influence must not attract people to us, but to Him. Whatever we do, we are making disciples of Jesus, not disciples of ourselves. Therefore, we must point people to a growing relationship with Jesus by having an unselfish discipleship relationship with them. In the process of them becoming mature disciples of Jesus, they will need us less and less, because they will depend on Jesus more and more. That is the only way to win the world, which is our primary mission in life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read John 4-6.
Life can't be about us. Life must be about Jesus. Our needs must be less and less important to us, and knowing Him better and better must become more and more important. After all, Jesus is life, and He is the light of men. Without Him we are nothing, and we have nothing. Therefore, we must decrease, and He must increase, if we are to serve Him effectively.
When He increases, we see that He came to save the whole world. That means every person with whom we come in contact. It is up to us to be unselfish, and to spend time and effort to relate to them, so we can bring them to Jesus, as Andrew brought his brother, Simon Peter.
Finally, our influence must not attract people to us, but to Him. Whatever we do, we are making disciples of Jesus, not disciples of ourselves. Therefore, we must point people to a growing relationship with Jesus by having an unselfish discipleship relationship with them. In the process of them becoming mature disciples of Jesus, they will need us less and less, because they will depend on Jesus more and more. That is the only way to win the world, which is our primary mission in life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read John 4-6.