“He must increase and I must decrease. John 3:30
The words are those of John the Baptist, the greatest messenger of God not just of his day, but according to Jesus, the greatest of all time. He was tempted by the teachers of the law who tried to stir up a rift between John and Jesus, thereby doing away with both. When their words came to John’s ears, he laid down a clear message about the nature of true Christianity.
Those who serve God are to become disciples of Jesus. As disciples, fidelity to God admits to movement in only one direction toward God. John described what that movement looks like. It begins with birth, a new spiritual birth, and from that moment on a person is transformed over time.
The teachings and the very life of Jesus increasingly become the principles and practices of the Christian’s life. This transformation comes at the cost of one’s own life and desires. The natural person we once were must steadily decrease while the spiritual person we are grows, filling up our new life.
The curious thing about this is that while the natural grows smaller, we become more and more our true self—the self we were created to be. We are not as a drop fallen into an endless sea, nor a single consciousness lost in a vast collective. We are as unique as only the mind of God is capable of making us.
The devil tempted the first people with the idea that they could be as gods if only they would reject the idea of being like God and going their own way. His lie was not in the idea that they could be as God, but in that they could do it alone. We shall indeed “be as gods”. We will have the life of God moving through us, the love of God guiding us, and the power of God in upholding us, but only as we are filled with God in the person of Christ.
Maranatha
