“He must increase, I must decrease.”

John the Baptist enjoyed immediate popular success, as all Jerusalem, Judea, and those from surrounding areas were going out to him in the wilderness to confess their sins and be baptized. Even Jesus testified of John that he was the greatest man in human history.

If anyone could have easily fallen into the trap of pride, it would have been John the Baptist.  Who else in human history, apart from Jesus could claim to have been filled with the Holy Spirit while they were still a fetus!  No one.  No one else but John in the entire human history had the important role of being the forerunner of Messiah.  A young prophet barely in his thirties, all these and other undocumented things John did could have fed his pride.  Yet, in the face of Jesus’ growing popularity and his own decreasing popularity, he’s giving his disciples, and us as a Christian community a basic lesson in humility, let Jesus become greater and I must become less and less.

There is such an important lesson to keep in mind at all times here: all of our gifts, abilities, and opportunities come from God.  Not by our might, by His grace alone… Everything!  Do I have a sound mind, income, ministry or place of service?  That came from God, who wants us to use it for His

purpose and glory.  John knew that he was the forerunner of the Messiah, and he sought to fulfill that ministry which God had given him, without taking credit for it.  The hallmark of the true spiritual development and maturity is this, that we must grow less and the Lord Jesus has to grow so much more in us.  People should see the Lord Jesus within us; the way we talk, live and address the world around us... should be a testimony that Jesus is alive in us.  In short, “seek first the Kingdom of God.” 

Let’s humble ourselves before Him and give Him full control.