John 3:29-30



John the Baptist said, “It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at Jesus’ success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
John the Baptist knew his place. He knew that he was simply the one who was preparing the way, and that all the attention should be on Jesus. He was like a best man, whose task was to do everything possible to make the wedding go smoothly, but without drawing attention to himself. The focus should be entirely upon the bridegroom and the bride. John knew what his God-given role was and he was clearly happy with it. Indeed, his goal was to become less and less, so that Jesus could become greater and greater.
It is never appropriate for Christian leaders to become stars and try to draw attention to themselves. I thank God for men like Billy Graham, who gained considerable fame but consistently pointed people to Jesus with amazing effectiveness. It is believed that more than 3 million people responded to his call to accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, and that more than 2 billion people heard him preach at public events or on the radio. Nobody who listened to Billy Graham would have concluded that he was trying to draw attention to himself. His focus was on Jesus alone.



Today, God calls us to do exactly the same. We need to be moving increasingly into the shadows so that Jesus gets the attention and worship that is rightfully his. This is not for a moment to deny the importance of the gifts and responsibilities that we have – they are all incredibly important – but they have been given to us so that we can draw attention to the bridegroom, Jesus himself. If we turn ourselves into the stars of the show, we have totally missed the point.



Question: What would it mean for you to become less?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me in this and every day to make you the focus of my life. Amen

Released on 17 Jul 2022