“He must increase, but I must decrease” – John 3:30 ESV
“The tree was bare. Every leaf had been shed. Winter had arrived. Yet, beyond the barren tree, the sun peeked its head above the treetops. Dawn was breaking. As the sun ascended higher, it’s rays were visible through the bare branches. Before long, the entire tree was glowing as the sun’s radiance shone through it.” (Nortker, 3-Minute Devotionals For Women, p. 91)
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
-James 4:10 NKJV
What is humility? The Living Bible translation of James 4:10 describes it as seeing ourselves as worthless. It says, “Then when you realize your worthlessness before the Lord, he will lift you up, encourage and help you.” Humility is one of the most misunderstood concepts. There is a quote by C.S. Lewis that sums it up pretty good, though: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” When we think about it like that, we have to ask ourselves the following question: how much time do we spend thinking about ourselves (our wants, our desires, our happiness, our dreams, our goals, our plans, our finances, our things). I’m sure that most will find that we spend more time thinking about ourselves than thinking about God or others. But, if we spent less time thinking about our problems, wants, needs; how would our lives be different? Maybe we would be less stressed about our own lives and a bigger blessing in other’s lives? The author of the excerpt above describes a tree, that doesn’t have any leaves or blossoms. It’s been stripped of everything that could give it physical beauty, power, glory. In the same way, we need to be able to let God strip us of our desires and our visions of self-importance. We need to humble ourselves, before The Lord, and offer Him everything we have and want. That way, God can take the pride and other ungodly attitudes from us. If we do that, we will not be hindered by our own selfish will from fulfilling His complete and ultimate purpose for our lives. What if we made God’s will and God’s plans our will and our plans? Since the tree had less of itself, the glory of the sun (Son of God) could shine through it making it a more glorious sight than if it would have stubbornly retained its leaves. We need to be like the tree. We need to decrease, so that God can increase (“He must increase, but I must decrease” – John 3:30) and His glory can shine through us and past our insufficiencies. Amen.
“Jesus said to His followers, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must forget about himself. He must take up his cross and follow Me.”-Matthew 16:24
