Devotion
Decrease to Increase
John 3:30
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Have you ever wondered what it means to decrease so that He can increase in your life? Do you understand the importance of decreasing self to increase Christ?
I have thought and prayed about how to really explain this very important principle in our Christian walk and the only thing that has come to my mind is to simply share some examples. So let’s take a journey down the decrease road together and find out just what it means and what it looks like.
First of all let me ask you some questions.
If you could be any thing you wanted, what would it be? ________________________________________________________________________
Who would you really like to spend time with? _________________________________________________________________________
If you could have any thing in the world without worry about cost, what would it be? _________________________________________________________________________
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? __________________________________________________________________________
If you could do any thing you wanted, what would it be? ___________________________________________________________________________
If you could be the best in the world at something, what would that something be? ____________________________________________________________________________
Now, would you give all that up to serve the Lord for nothing? _________________________
That is a huge question so be careful with the answer. Let’s check to see if you mean what you say. I am going to give you a situation and you need to share how you would respond to it.
You are driving down the street, on your way to work, you are running late and there are cars in both lanes driving the speed limit, but it feels as if they are crawling. What is your reaction? Be honest with yourself and God in your answer. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Next: You are talking with your spouse, they are tired from a long hard day at work, yet you worked all day too, but your spouse is fussy and rude. How do you respond? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
You have worked very hard on a project with a friend and it is due on Friday. Your friend has spent little time really helping but loves what you are doing. Come Friday, you are suddenly taken ill and cannot attend class so your friend presents the project without you. No big deal you think, yet when you return to class the next day you learn the so called “friend” has taken all the credit for the project. How do you respond?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It is income tax time and you are gathering all your papers to turn in to the tax man. You have already paid in lots of money to the government and feel as if they are stealing from you. The tax man makes a suggestion for you to claim things that you really shouldn’t so you can get more money back, how do you respond? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
You are moving into a new home. You and your spouse are excited but soon that excitement is challenged when the two of you cannot agree as to where the office should be, up stairs or down stairs. How do you respond? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finally, your youngest child is having way too much fun in school. She just is not paying attention and loves talking to her peers. She comes home from school with a note about her grades falling. She seems sad and almost angry all the time. You have tried to talk to her but she doesn’t have the time of day for you. Frustration begins to build as she almost demands to get her way from her father. How do you respond? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ok, how did you do? Did you respond truthfully? Do your answers reveal anything about who is important to you?
John 3:30 says we must decrease and He must increase. We do this by the way we respond to life’s situations. When we stop and think about the Lord and what He wants, we will more likely make decisions that will honor Him. It is easy for this old flesh to be consumed with our own desires, to have our needs met, to get our way, to make it to the top, to make someone listen to us, etc. But the Lord wants us to stop and think about what He wants, about what His word says before we respond. He wants us to think about whose we are, we are His, and we are children of the all mighty King of kings. We are royalty and we should act like royalty. We need to be so focused on Christ that we do not desire any praise for ourselves whatsoever.
When praise is due to us for a job well done, we need to pass the praise on to Him.
When someone hurts us and we have a right to be angry, we need to lay that anger at the foot of the cross and remember the hurt He went through for us and respond the way He did, forgiving those who hung Him there. When there is something we really want, or a place we really want to go, yet there is someone we know who has a real need, we need to stop and think about the one who has less and share what we have, even if it means we are unable to get what we want because of it. When your money is low and you need to give to the Lord, don’t hold back, give without fear or worry, believing He will provide. This is surrender; this is decreasing and Him increasing by faithfully trusting Him. All in the name of Jesus, this is how we decrease and He increases.
Remember, true increase comes into your life when you learn to decrease self and increase Jesus.
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