He Must Increase 

   “He must increase; I must decrease.” (John 3: 30) 

   John the Baptist’s followers were concerned because more and more people were going to Jesus rather than John.  John’s response was appropriate then and is appropriate to my life now as well.  I must become less involved with self and more involved with Christ.

   I was once again taught the lesson that I am able to do virtually nothing on my own and need God’s help to just make it through each day.  Faced with the possibility of needed surgery of a quite serious nature I spent the last four days in the hospital getting multiple tests to determine if the surgery would be necessary.  By the grace of God it was not.

   This experience reinforced what I already knew but sometimes forget; it is God who is in control, not me.  The only way I could cope with the concerns of the potential surgery I might have needed was to acknowledge my inability to do anything except place all in the hands of the Lord.  I was helpless, but He is not.

   As I prayed and offered my worries and concerns to God, placing myself at His mercy I again recalled John’s words to his disciples.  For me as well, I must decrease and allow Christ to increase within me.  St. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” (Gal 2: 19-21).  This is the lesson I must learn, to allow Christ to be all within me.