In Our Own Way

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” ~CSB

My wife and I have found that in raising our son, we are able to seed in him better when we tag team. Not necessarily ‘Good cop/Bad cop’, but we recognize the strength in each other. When having a serious conversation with our son on any given occasion, either my wife’s voice or word is stronger than mine, or other days it will be me who would have the stronger seed.

In other words, we know when to decrease and allow the other to increase because the message we are both attempting to send to him will be received better when we don’t try to stand in front of each other to be heard. In the text, John the Baptist tells everyone that he has come before the Messiah so that he can prepare everyone for Jesus. Now that Jesus is here, he will now decrease so that the Messiah can increase.

This is the same in our walk as believers. We must have the same decerning for decreasing. You see, Jesus has allowed us the counselor. He advocated to God on our behalf for our helper, the Holy Spirit, to walk with us in guidance. It is our job to recognize and react by decreasing in our own power. We must allow the Holy Spirit to increase in us so that we say the right words, so that we walk in the right direction and we receive the wisdom we need for God’s purpose in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Decreasing keeps us from getting in our own way.

This week, practice decreasing in situations when we don’t know what to do. Practice decreasing in situations where we don’t know what to say. And definitely practice decreasing when we begin to fail at showing God’s love to others. Practice it. And watch the power of the Holy Spirit increase and experience the true victory in God’s purpose for our lives.

May God bless and keep you protected and provided for as you walk in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen

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