He must increase, I must decrease
God has been drilling this verse into my heart. As I sat down for my devotions this morning, I studied John chapter three, which emphasized that I must decrease. I then opened a book I’ve been reading about Moses, which today happened to be about Moses’s humility. When the Red Sea was parted through Moses, praises were sung unto the Lord on high, but not once was Moses referenced to. I then opened the other book I’ve been studying over the Holy Spirit. Which was oddly about decreasing as well. The final phrase in the chapter was “whatever my pride may be, puffing me up like a balloon, the first thing that must be done before I can have real power with God, is I MUST DECREASE. How crazy it his how God aligns our everyday lives in a way that He reveals himself to us, through simple things like reading!
This Saturday at Ciudad de los Ninos, I was shown humility, the ability to decrease oneself, by a little six year old girl. Being my clumsy self, I spilled juice all over myself while the kids were playing games. I got frustrated, but then saw this little girl walking towards me with the sweetest eyes, a wet towel in hand, ready to help me out. Im here to serve these kids and to invest in them, yet she humbled herself, left the fun game she was playing with her friends, and knelt down beside me to begin wiping off my hands. No one saw her humble act of service but myself, but wow God spoke to me through this moment, she humbled herself completely to come and serve her sister in Christ. How often would I turn the other cheek in this situation, pretending I didn’t see what happened or thinking to highly of myself. But at the end of the day, I MUST DECREASE.
How amazing its been, to stand next to others in this community, and worship our Jesus together. Realizing that while we may have opposite opinions on everything in this world, we’ve got Jesus in common, and we’ve got the Kingdom in common. At the end of the day, we are just dust and bones. But Jesus is incredible because he makes it possible for us to stand next to strangers, united in Him alone!
Worship in the Stairwell
This week praising Jesus in the stairwell has become a little routine. The echo of praises through the halls and around the building brings to life the HOPE that this place provides. Standing outside the door of the women’s program, we worship Jesus alongside the girls in the rehabilitation program. None of us deserve to worship. We don’t deserve to celebrate, nor do we deserve eternity. Jesus Christ alone chose to redeem each of us, so that my team and I can stand in the stairwell alongside these women and sing to Him with all our might. Praising Him that when we choose to decrease ourselves, our ego, our pride, when we choose to elevate Him to a whole new level, thats when we find joy and peace and strength and life! Jesus is a God who unites strangers, who anoints us with the spirit so that we can feel His presence and we can worship Him. Jesus provides unity in places where no other unity is found.
As John 3: 29 says – “so this joy of mine is complete, He must Increase, I must decrease”
