I Must Decrease
By Jeremy Glaze
He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30)
As we attempt to follow Christ, I believe a struggle that the vast majority of us encounter is surrendering to the fact that it is not about us. Human nature mixed with what we learn from society gives us the instinct to put ourselves first. And with that we get the phrase “Looking out for number 1″ (which is a great idea once we realize who number 1 is). When an important decision arises, it is so easy for our first thought to be “how will this affect me?” or “what will benefit me the most?”. This is a dangerous way to live life.
When I think of bad decisions that I have made (which probably outweigh the good ones), almost everyone one of them was made with no one else in mind but myself. Think about what causes us to lie. What causes someone to cheat or steal? Think about what caused you to do something that emotionally hurt someone you loved. It was that we were putting ourselves first. We were thinking things like “this will make me feel good”, “this will keep the blame off of me”, “this will get me what I want”.
But when Christ increases and I decrease, everything is different. When I realize the it is all about Him and not about me, my decision making process becomes a lot better. I do not lie, cheat, say hurtful things etc… and I make better decisions 100% of the time when He is number 1 in my mind.
So when someone betrays us and deeply hurts us, we could think about ourselves. We could seek revenge and hold them responsible. We could let their betrayal control our thoughts and actions. Or we could realize that it is not about us, it is about the One greater. We could forgive this person and release any control that it had over us. We could show the one who betrayed us a glimpse of the Gospel and set both of us free.
We can avoid the bad parts of town and the poor neighborhoods because that is where a lot of violence happens. It is not safe, plus we don’t want to be bothered by beggars. Or we could realize that it is not about us and these are the unreached places that need the Gospel the most. We could actually believe that Jesus has me and you in mind to take the good news to the poor.
When we receive our paycheck, we could think about ourselves and the long hours we worked for this. We could take any extra money and go blow it because we think we deserve it. Or we could realize that is not about us and help some one else in need. We could find someone who really means it when they pray “give us this day, our daily bread”, and God can use us to answer their prayer.
When we put ourselves first, it is impossible to allow God to live through us. It is impossible to be a light in the world. I have regretted thousands of decisions I have made, but I have never regretted a decision I made when I made it all about Him. That is one thing that is so cool about God. Anytime we do things for Him, even if it is suffering for Him, He will bring us more joy than we can imagine. It all works together.
Jeremy Glaze
