The Best Weekend Ever!

The Best Weekend Ever!

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:30 (NKJV)


It’s Friday and many are already planning for the weekend and how to get as much as possible out of the next 48 hours. The good news for those planning is that there are 24 hours in a day and we all get to choose at least some of what takes place during those 24 hours. If you want to enjoy life more fully, choose more of Jesus! John the Baptist understood the way to decrease in his own life was to increase in the life of Christ and not the other way around. In our work oriented way of thinking we believe if we decrease, if we discard certain things that will make more room or more time for the Lord. Sounds logical but John didn’t stress over trying to decrease or become a minimalist, his focus was on increasing. If you and I would allow the Lord to increase in our lives as He desires to do, the decreasing of our old self and our old ways will take care of itself. That's why John wrote, “He must increase, but I must decrease” and not “I must decrease that He might increase.” Get more of Jesus and He will determine for you what needs to go.

The more Jesus in our lives leads to less of us spilling out. I liken it to the saying, “Jesus in, Jesus out.” There might not be a better example in scripture than the one we read of in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah 6:1-5 (NKJV) writes, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts."

Isaiah experienced a rapid decrease of self importance you might say when he saw the Lord high and lifted up. As the Lord increased in Isaiah’s life, he proportionately decreased. Focus on yourself today friend and you won’t even know where to begin to bring about all the changes necessary for becoming the best version of yourself. Focus on Jesus today and everything will begin to fall right into place. Jeremiah 29:11 puts it like this, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” That's why the writer of Hebrews penned these words, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. (Hebrews 12:2).

Put Jesus first, seek Jesus first, and everything else will fall into its rightful place. Set your heart and mind to increase in the Lord today, and know as you do, that the sin of selfishness will automatically decrease because there simply is not enough room for more of Jesus and more of you. Yes, loved one, as Jesus increases in our lives we will decrease and that’s a good thing any way you look at it. Have a great weekend in Jesus!
 
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."

John 12:32 (NKJV)


I LOVE YOU!





Michael Osthimer

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