"He must become greater, I must become less." John 3:30
Super simple. Yet it might possibly one of the hardest verses in scripture to put into action. Why is that, do you think?
We're selfish.
We're needy.
We long for attention.
We want to be noticed.
We want to be liked.
We want to be accepted.
We want to be popular.
We want to be told "well done, good job."
Those are just 8 things. Maybe you thought of more. There are probably more. The list goes on, really.
But let's pick those 8 thing apart.
1.) We're selfish.
This is one of those things that is like the sad truth that no one really wants to accept. Now some of you may do what I just did, and look up the meaning of the word selfish. And reading it, some of you may say "oh my! I'm not like that at all." But come on now....
Selfish: devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.
I'll be honest with you. The one that stood out to me the most was "concerned primarily with one's own interests." Some people don't consider reading Gods word one of their "interests". But I often feel like some of our interests get in the way of how much we actually DO read his word, and how much time we devote to it. We're so focused on our own interests. I feel we're all selfish in that aspect. Think about that one.
2.) We're needy.
3.) We long for attention.
These two go together, and are somewhat strange. When you saw them up there you may not have known what they meant or how they applied to the verse. What I meant is that we're needy for the attention of those around us. This one is hard to deny.Especially in this generation. Someone is always doing something that will get the attention of others. Whether it's something good or (sadly) something bad. Because it gives people something to talk about. You become the "hot topic" of conversation.(okay maybe not but you get what I mean..) We want people to be interested in us, and to want to know more about us.
4.) We want to be noticed.
This one ties in to the two above. We do things to get us noticed. So that people look at us. To get peoples attention. To make people curious about us.
5.) We want to be liked.
6.) We want to be accepted.
Again, these two go together. We long to be liked and accepted by those around us. And our society today sadly gives us a bad example of how to go about that. When you think of being liked or accepted by someone what do you think of? Probably a lot of different things. I think of doing things that those people like so that they will be accepted. Showing them that you're "good enough" to hang out with them. Showing them how awesome you can be.
7.) We want to be popular.
Pretty simple. We want people to know us. To like us. To look up to us. We want people to know our name.
8.) "We want to be told "well done, good job."
We want to do things that will make people say "Oh my goodness! You are amazing. You're so good at (fill in the blank)." We like feeling accomplished. And we like to know that something we did made someone else notice us. And the things we're good at. And the things we've done.
So now that we went through all of those and broke them down. Let's look at them in a new light.....
We're so focused on His interests, we forget ours.
We want people to be interested in God.
We want people to know more about Him.
We want to make people curious about God.
We want to show people how awesome God can be.
We want people to know His name.
We want people to notice the things He does through us. And the good things He's done in us.
Now compare those and look at the verse again.
"He must become greater, I must become less." John 3:30
