I’m sitting, looking at a blank page waiting for me to write something down. I’ve just written something down, it’s not blank anymore, it now has the words I continue to type and I just keep typing hoping to find a good transition into the reason of this post. This post does have a reason, this post is important to me because it has to do with some of my favorite things.
God.
Jesus.
Leadership.
I have the incredible privilege to work in environments that allow me to exercise gifts and talents that God has given me and there are moments when I sit back or breath an exhale of amazement that I actually get paid to do what I do.
Whenever I can experience something that allows me to grow, learn, live and lead better, I get excited because I can literally feel how I am getting closer and closer to God with each baby step I take. Some may call that wishful thinking, I simply call it the faithfulness of a Father that loves unconditionally.
Recently, God has decided to remind me of something that I had lost sight of. It’s a simple phrase with profound meaning and packed full of life changing power that has really caused me to evaluate how I do things.
It’s a principle that I’ve known for almost all of my life and certainly for the majority of my leadership life. Seven words. One sentence. Spoken by one of the first New Testament preachers ever.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
I don’t know why that has been echoing in my head so loudly over the past few days.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
The word that really stands out to me is that word, “must.”
I just feel such an urgency when I read that. Like it’s so absolutely necessary for me to decrease and God to increase, that’s insane to consider the possibility of it being any other way.
It’s almost like both things need to happen in order for it to work right…
Is it possible for God to increase and you NOT to decrease?
Is there room for both you and God, or does one automatically become smaller as the other one takes precedent. I can easily use the excuse that if I follow God and I increase, than more people will see that I follow God and may come to God, so maybe I can increase and than, by default God will increase because I am getting bigger.
That’s a lie.
It’s simply not true. That phrase, “He must increase, but I must decrease” comes from the New International Version and it has the second “must” in italics which just adds to the urgency.
It’s like, “He really needs to increase, but if anything is really going to happen, you just have to all-out, without-a-doubt, can’t be any other way, HAVE TO decrease.”
It’s almost like the focus isn’t even on God at that point, but more on what WE need to do. Which makes me think that God, just by being God, will fill the gap left as we get smaller and smaller.
We don’t need to worry about God being big, He’s already big. I have to remember that I have the ability to miniaturize God by allowing myself to be big.
I love the idea that as I get smaller, God automatically gets made bigger, because there is no pressure on me to do anything. I don’t have to worry about being successful, I don’t have to worry about what other people think, the only thing I have to really concern myself with when entering into any situation is simply, “How can I allow God to be increase in this situation?”
God has given human beings an amazing amount of responsibility. And what are we to do with that responsibility?
Well, the responsible thing to do is to give it right back to Him.
I’ve met a lot of people who never consider their own soul when they make a choice and it breaks my heart to see so many people with broken souls in need of a healer, a miracle, a Savior. I get in there with what I may consider good advice or wise counsel when in reality, I absolutely must decrease, so that He can increase.
There’s too much at risk for me to worry about being big.
I want to be small.
Very small.
I like being little.
iamnot. He is I AM.
