29^th July

“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. He has come from above and is greater than anyone else.”

John 3:30-31a

Jesus and John the Baptist had many similarities. They not only were cousins but shared a passion for holiness, righteous living and were marginalised by society yet popular at the same time. A lot of people expected John the Baptist to be the Messiah, a claim which he avidly denied. John’s teaching caused much division and was hard to hear because of the convicting truths, of which eventually led to his execution by Herod.

Yet John the Baptist knew who he was. He knew that he was only a sign post to the true Messiah. He was, as he said in his words, the best man at the wedding feast glad to hear the wedding vows. In fact John often passionately denied the claims that he was the Messiah, even stating that he was not worthy to tie the sandals of Jesus. He was aware that Jesus was someone special.

In today’s verse John declares a truth which was not just powerful when he said it 2000 years ago, but even more so now in a Godless and selfish society. He declared that he should become less and less and Jesus should become greater and greater. This is such a powerful statement. So often we try to dictate our own lives, live in our strength, and try to include God as an after thought. Yet our prayers should be that our own desires and selfish ambitions should become less and less so that God can be greater in our lives. When He becomes more in our lives, we hand over the reigns to way we live so that He drives, He leads and He guides. We become less fixated on ourselves and more on Jesus and His Kingdom purposes. We realise who He is and live our lives accordingly.

Let our prayer be that we may decrease so He can be greater in and through our lives.