He Must Increase

Let’s make sure we get the order of this one right:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jn 3:30 ESV

So if this Eternal Life we have been given begins with Jesus, then we must learn to begin everything we think, say and do with Jesus also. Jesus must increase in our thought life. Jesus must increase in the way we feel what we feel. Jesus must increase in what we want from life and the decisions we make in it. Jesus must come first. Why? Because He IS the Truth, the Way and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Him. (That’s Jn 14:6 and a bonus verse if you want to memorize it this week too!) If you truly want the Abundant Life, then it is only found IN Christ!

Because Jesus is at the center of this New Life we now have IN Him, as we mature, we will seek ways to magnify Him, that is make Him bigger, in our life, instead of pointing to MMI. For example, instead of sitting in a group and listening to, or worse, taking part in gossip, we will learn ways to turn the conversation towards Life. We will talk about things that are uplifting, instead of death, things like gossip that only hurt others. Remember the verse from last week? We can use our Free Will to choose Life, reflecting more of Jesus and less of the old MMI way we used to live. So here’s where things often get challenging for us. We want to make those life choices, but we lack the strength to change because…ok, this needs time to work out so let’s continue it tomorrow…

Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:

January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10

February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13

9- 1Pe 5:7

10- Jn 8:32

11- Dt 30:19

12- Jn 3:30

<>< Peace, Diane