Decrease

Friday's Devotion (4-7-06)

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

To me, this verse means that I need less of myself and more of Jesus. In other words, I must give my life to Jesus and let Him live it. This is the sacrifice that we must make in order to enter God's Kingdom. If I feel like hurting someone then I must deny myself that right, and I must let Jesus shine through me. I must show that love of Christ. If I feel like taking drugs then I must deny myself that right and let Jesus shine through me by remaining sober. The list goes on, and I think you all get the point. In order to decrease myself and increase Him in me, I must make sacrifices. I have to say "no" to things that I may or may not want to say "no" to. I have to Let Jesus go to work and I have to let Him use me as a vessel for His work. I try not to listen to worldly music, I try to listen only to music that glorifies Jesus. That's just one example of things that we have to deny ourselves in. We really have to ask ourselves: "If Jesus wouldn't do it, why should we? What was the reason that Jesus wouldn't do it?" I think that if we can give ourselves a solid reason of why Jesus would or wouldn't do something, then we can give ourselves more will power.

Of course this whole thing isn't about ourselves either. This is about letting Jesus live through us, it's not about what we can or can't do. If Jesus is to live through us, then we have to give Him control. We have to submit to Him: We need to know His Word (The Bible,) and we need to fill our minds with things of Him. We need to cleanse our minds and our souls in order to bring Him out. When's the last time you met someone and felt like you were meeting Jesus Himself? I'm sure that some of you have felt that, and I'll tell you why you felt that. You felt that because the person you met dedicated themselves to Jesus, they dedicated their entire life to Jesus. From what they watched on television to what they do at work is all based on one thing, and that's the question: "Would Jesus do this?" They're not shining that brightly simply because they said a prayer that morning or because they read their Bibles, but those things do help. They're shining that light brightly because they follow that Bible and they listen to God when they pray. Some of you spend several hours with the Lord every day, but still you don't shine. That's because it's not always about how much time, but it's about the quality of the time you put into knowing Him. It's about what you learn and how you apply it.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Help us to shine brightly for you, and help us to decrease ourselves and increase you. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

Hope you enjoyed. Please post your thoughts on this topic, on the message board or in our Guestbook.