More of Me, More of Him

I made an interesting discovery yesterday while I was preparing another talk for our iCall evening in a couple of weeks. This evening seminar is an introduction to the iChange Seminars that I do with my friends Trish Warren and Andy Voth. I wanted to do a short talk about the verse that is often quoted as “He must increase and I must decrease” because it is often used an excuse by Christians to hold back and hide from who they are called to be.

The verse is John 3:30 and goes like this: “He must increase, but I must decrease. “ Fairly simple. And when taken just like that, as I've heard all my life, it sounds like some super spiritual comment on how there needs to be less of me and more of Him, which is another line I've heard quoted all my life. The things is, that last line – it's not in the Bible. And the other thing is, that whole line of thinking, it's based on a verse that has been taken totally out of context. Oh, yes, there's that word – context. Ever so important.

When you read the context of this verse, you will see that the one speaking these words is John the Baptist. He is saying to his followers, which were many, that he, John, must decrease, as in lessen in rank or following, and Jesus must increase in rank and following. He was telling his disciples that they needed to follow Jesus instead of him. The Jesus was here now, so they didn't need to keep following John. NOTHING! to do with shutting down parts of yourself or being smaller so that Jesus would be glorified in your life as its always been taught to me! It's not about being holier, or sinning less, or killing the flesh (whatever that means! How do you kill parts of you?).

Okay, some of your may be thinking, uh, what's the problem. Why would you need to be smaller to let God be bigger? But that's the point! That's exactly what I've been taught and have spent most of my life fighting with my very big personality in order to be good, to 'give glory to God'. Think about it. How many of you have bells going off if you were to say, “I'm great! Really great! God did a damn fine job when He made me!” Yeah, I thought so. “I can't say that! It's pride” Or you just see the lists start to role of all the things that you really don't like about yourself. Well, it's crap! No more of this “Less of me and more of Him” stuff.

I suggest a new way, not so new, but new to me. How about “All of me and as much of Him as I can take without being fired to a crisp.”

That's my new motto. Still working on how to actually live that, but it's sure feels good to get it out there. I'm constantly amazed at how those things that we are taught as a child, or even adults, we take on as truth, simply because it works with our belief systems, and not because they are actually truth.

So there you go. That's my perspective on John 3:30. Have fun with that. And be great!