More or Less

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

MORE OR LESS

John 3:22-30

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan — the one you testified about — well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him." 27 To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.

NIV

The Apostle John takes some time to set up the scene for what truth is revealed in this conversation between some certain Jews and John the Baptist. The first truth we should deal with is this response of John, “A man can receive only that is given him from heaven”. Sometimes we might think that we can become anything we desire if we work hard enough. But that kind of thinking would seem to be one hundred percent humanistic and keeps God out of the equation completely. We have to come to terms with the fact God knit us together in our mother’s womb. We are who we are because we are a creation of God, who is the ultimate sovereign authority over all things including us. What we have received and we are not even considering material things, we have received from heaven. That means our souls, our minds and our spirits. Whatever abilities we have, they are God-given. Whatever intelligence we have, it is God-given. Whatever personality we have, it too has to be God-given and all that comes together for the purpose God has for our lives, our calling, our mission, our task in life and in service to His kingdom. What seems to happen in life, is that before we acknowledge God, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we would believe that we are in control of our own life, our own destiny, that we are the caption of our own ship, going and doing wherever and whatever we want to do. When the Spirit finally breaks through our thick exterior and is able to reveal Jesus to us, we turn around and change the course of our life, or rather he turns us around. What we learn if we are willing to open our spirit to Him, is that we must decrease and He must increase. Jesus must become greater in us that we must become less in us. We are not the captain of our own ship, Jesus is now in charge and in fact is the whole ship, rudder, and all-determining the direction of our life. Maybe there is some kind of transition in which little by little we turn more and more aspects of our life over to Jesus. It seems this may be a continual process as it also seems our self still has certain desires of its own. Although that born again experience was indeed a moment in time, growing up in Christ, becoming a child, preteen, teenager, and eventually an adult takes some time. So our learning to become less while Jesus becomes more in us takes some time to complete. The amount of time it takes might be up to how much we are willing to become less. So then it is a matter of more or less.