John 3:30

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Today’s verse is part of an interaction between John the Baptist, his followers and some Jews regarding baptism and the fact that Jesus and His disciples were also baptizing. Now John could have felt threatened by this new group of guys baptizing people. I mean, he was the baptizer. And sure, he did preach “prepare the way of the Lord,” prior to Jesus revealing Himself to the world, but John is the one who baptized Jesus! Baptizing people was basically his only job. That is what he was called to do, even before he was born. So when these guys came up to him and in my opinion, were trying to get a rise out of John, what did he do? Did he get jealous and say, “who does Jesus and disciples think they are, taking over my job?” Was his identity threatened by this new way of doing things? No, absolutely not. He goes on to say in the following verses that Jesus is everything to Him, for Him and without Him, he is nothing. The purpose of John’s life was not to be exalted himself, but to exalt Jesus, to point people to Jesus. He recognized that his calling and gifts were from Jesus and because of Jesus and without Jesus, there was no notoriety, no success. John says in verse 29 of this chapter that his life and his mission as a forerunner and proclaimer of the coming Messiah was a pleasure and his joy was complete now that Jesus had arrived.

Do I even need to break this down for us today? I’m going to anyway…

In a world that tells us to be all we can be, be Jesus to the world. In a society that screams, “look at me, look at me!” point them to Jesus when they do look at you. When you’re working out, eating healthy, taking supplements, getting your hair and your nails done so that you can “be the best version of yourself possible,” don’t forget the best version of you is when Jesus is in you and His love is shining from you.

Without Jesus, I am literally nothing. Anything that I have, anything that I do, anything I am is from Him. There is absolutely nothing that I can do apart from Him. Whatever He wants to do through me, let it be so. I live for Him and to point everyone I meet to Him. He is the source of my identity. I am in Him and He is in me. In Jesus I find my purpose in life. I pray that when people look at me, they see Jesus! I pray that when people hear me speak, they hear Jesus!

Philippians 2:13
“For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.”

🎶Give me Jesus…you can have all this world, but give me Jesus🎶