Less of Me

John 3: He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. Strong words by John the Baptist as he realized the "real" salvation, or the Messiah, was truly here and working. Jesus' ministry that went on for 3 years and culminated with His death, burial, and resurrection was moving forward, and John did not offer what mankind needed, but Jesus did. We all need to come to the realization that there must be more Jesus seen in our lives of less of us. This is the battle between the "natural" man and the "spiritual" man. The natural man must be put, not just on the back burner, but taken off the stove completely. Less of me is an identifying result of being a follower of Jesus, and that person takes up their cross and follows Jesus. To take up our cross means we live in the reflection of the cross of Jesus and allow His sacrifice be seen in all our lives.

John the Baptist was apparently following the will of God and the steps prophecy had laid out for him, but he wasn't Jesus. He only pointed people TO JESUS. If this all sounds familiar, it is because we are the same as John. We point people to Jesus and then let the saving realization He offers give them their choice. The choice is "eternal life in glory or eternal damnation in hell." Less of Me doesn't mean we DO less for Jesus, but we just put Him in the forefront of everything, and He will work every time. Jesus never fails. Hebrews 13:⁵ Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.

We have nothing to offer except for Jesus, but He must be our focal point, and we must lift Him up in our lives and learn His ways. We cannot walk with Him physically like His disciples, but we have His Word, and it is an unlimited resource for learning and living. His Word must be followed as if it is Jesus, because it is per John 1: 1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He existed in the beginning with God. ³ God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. ⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

The light does shine in the darkness, and the Word is that light shining through each of us, but we must put ourselves where we should be with less of me and more of Jesus. A pastor who truly preaches the Word is a pastor who has understood this great truth from the Word of God. Preaching messages that are like candy cutter sermons on "How to live a good life" or whatever can never stand up to the pure truth of the Word of God. God's word speaks for itself as Jesus spoke of Himself, the Word. Luke 4:¹⁶ When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. ¹⁷ The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,    that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,¹⁹     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” ²⁰ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. ²¹ Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

We preach Jesus and ONLY Jesus, and He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that message must come through, as well as, our commitment to elevate Him in our lives.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren