I Must Decrease

This is Day 5 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

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

The hardest thing about becoming a Christian is dying to self. If I am being honest, I have to admit that I think about myself ALL THE TIME! Am I hungry? Am I thirsty? Do I agree with that political opinion on Facebook? Do I find that cat picture funny? Can I get just five minutes of peace without the kids screaming at each other? Does my boss like me? Is he going to give Bob a bigger raise than me? Am I dressed appropriately? What do I want for dinner? What do I want to watch on TV? Did she offend me? Do I like him? And on and on and on.

As a Christian, however, my primary focus should not be on myself, but on Jesus and by extension my fellow man. Jesus must increase. Honestly it's really not that hard to increase Jesus in my life. I can take some time away from reading about Florida State football, or checking my Facebook status, or watching a TV show to pray more or read my Bible. I mean, when I think about it there are plenty of unimportant things I can cut out of my day to replace with Jesus thereby increasing Him in my life. But increasing Jesus is only half of the mission. Because not only must He increase, but I must decrease.

Here's where it gets tricky. Increasing Jesus is pretty easy, but to decrease myself...well that changes everything. That means that not only must I spend more time with Jesus, but He must become my singular goal. My life must be about His glory instead of my own. I must decrease so much that people cannot even see me. Instead all they can see is Jesus. My will does not matter. My glory does not matter. In fact my entire life should be a living sacrifice for Him. I must decrease, until there is nothing left, but Jesus.

I'll admit I'm not there yet. But I am working on it and with God's help hopefully someday, I'll get there.

Today's prayer:

Heavenly Father, help me to not seek my own will or my own glory, but to seek only the will and glory of Your Son Jesus Christ. Humble me Lord, so that I might decrease further and further down until my entire life is a reflection of Christ's greatness and glory. Humble me Lord, so that I am no longer visible, but only Christ living in me and through me. Amen.

R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Christian fantasy novel Peter Puckett & The Amulet of Eternity. He lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and three wonderful boys.