Daily Devotional

-May 12, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Christ Must Increase, We Must Decrease-

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

(John 3:30).

John the Baptist was a great man, a great prophet. He was the last of the OT prophets. Jesus testified of him, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11).

John the Baptist and Jesus were second cousins. Even so, John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah until God revealed it to him. When the Jews sent priests and Levites to him, asking who he was, he plainly answered them. John 1:19-21 says, “Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’

John knew his role and his place in the ministry God called him to. John 1:23 says, “He said: ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” He was the forerunner of Christ who came to prepare people’s hearts to receive Jesus the Messiah. He baptized them unto repentance from their sins.

John took a humble place before God and men. John 1:26 tells us, “John answered, ‘I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” In our text today, he plainly said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He pointed people, including his own followers, to Jesus. He passed off the scene when he was beheaded by Herod; All eyes had to be on Jesus going forward.

The application for us is clear, it is all about Jesus, not about us. He is our Lord and Savior, He rules our hearts. We point people to Him who saves. We give Him all the glory. He must increase, we must decrease. Without Him we are nothing, with Him, with Him, He is everything to us.

There is a wonderful hymn, entitled, “None of Self and All of Thee,” written by Theodore Mound in 1875. It says: “Oh, the bitter pain and sorrow that a time could ever be, when I proudly said to Jesus, ‘All of self, and none of Thee. All of self, and none of Thee, all of self and none of Thee. All of self and none of Thee. When I proudly said to Jesus, ‘All of self, and none of Thee.’ Yet He found Me; I beheld Him bleeding on th’ accursed tree, and my wistful heart said faintly, ‘Some of self, and some of Thee. Some of self, and some of Thee, some of self, and some of Thee, and my heart said faintly, ‘Some of self, and some of Thee.’ Day by day His tender mercy, healing, helping, full and free, brought me lower while I whispered, ‘Less of self, and more of Thee. Less of self and more of Thee, less of self and more of Thee, brought me lower while I whispered, ‘Less of self and more of Thee. Higher than the highest heaven, deeper than the deepest sea, Lord, Thy love at last has conquered: ‘None of self, and all of Thee.’ None of self, and all of Thee, none of self, and all of Thee, Lord at last Thy love has conquered: ‘None of self, and all of Thee.’”

May the Lord Jesus Christ increase, and may we decease, to the point where we can say, “None of self, and all of Thee.” Let others see Jesus in us and find Him as their Lord and Savior also. Without Him we can do nothing.

Have a blessed day with Christ increasing and self denying and decreasing. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean