Motive Check
Scripture: John 3:27-30
"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less."
Observations:
Before Jesus ever became anything significant in the eyes of man, the one who enjoyed the spotlight before Him was a man named John the Baptist. John was consumed with an overwhelming desire for God and His Kingdom to come on earth. He eagerly anticipated the day when God would redeem mankind and save them from their sins. His job was to call the world to turn away from their sins and get things right with God. At the height of his ministry, along came Jesus who stole the show so to speak the moment John baptized Him in the Jordan River and God spoke in an audible voice confirming that He was the Son of God. From the point on, the crowds began to follow Jesus more and more and John less and less. Even some of John's own disciples left Him and joined up with Jesus' band of followers. But because John's purpose was centered on helping people enter God's Kingdom, it didn't even phase him that his ministry was shrinking. He recognized that it was never about
him to begin with and so he had no problem stepping aside for the sake of Christ.
Application:
John the Baptist understood a very profound truth that every one of us need to know: it's not about us. God's Kingdom never was and never will be about us. It will, however, always be about Christ becoming more and more and us becoming less and less. So long as we are focused on building our kingdom instead of His we will always find ourselves competing with God. The truth is God desires to use all of us for His purposes, but we are all capable of substituting God's purposes for our own when our own pride is at stake. For that reason God has called each of us to continually humble ourselves and seek His Kingdom above everything else (Matthew 6:33). God desires us to find our value as servants of His purposes rather than using Him to serve our purposes. Any other arena in life where we are seeking anything but Christ to give us value is part our kingdom that must become less so that Christ can become greater. The more we find our identity in Christ the less we will feel the need to build our own kingdom. The less we are focused on our kingdoms, the more we will focused on God's. Who's Kingdom are you building?
Prayer:
Father, forgive us for making it about us and for allowing things to compete with Your eternal Kingdom. Help us to recenter our lives around Christ and Your mission today. We humble ourselves and surrender again to serve Your purposes rather than our own. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less."
Observations:
Before Jesus ever became anything significant in the eyes of man, the one who enjoyed the spotlight before Him was a man named John the Baptist. John was consumed with an overwhelming desire for God and His Kingdom to come on earth. He eagerly anticipated the day when God would redeem mankind and save them from their sins. His job was to call the world to turn away from their sins and get things right with God. At the height of his ministry, along came Jesus who stole the show so to speak the moment John baptized Him in the Jordan River and God spoke in an audible voice confirming that He was the Son of God. From the point on, the crowds began to follow Jesus more and more and John less and less. Even some of John's own disciples left Him and joined up with Jesus' band of followers. But because John's purpose was centered on helping people enter God's Kingdom, it didn't even phase him that his ministry was shrinking. He recognized that it was never about
him to begin with and so he had no problem stepping aside for the sake of Christ.
Application:
John the Baptist understood a very profound truth that every one of us need to know: it's not about us. God's Kingdom never was and never will be about us. It will, however, always be about Christ becoming more and more and us becoming less and less. So long as we are focused on building our kingdom instead of His we will always find ourselves competing with God. The truth is God desires to use all of us for His purposes, but we are all capable of substituting God's purposes for our own when our own pride is at stake. For that reason God has called each of us to continually humble ourselves and seek His Kingdom above everything else (Matthew 6:33). God desires us to find our value as servants of His purposes rather than using Him to serve our purposes. Any other arena in life where we are seeking anything but Christ to give us value is part our kingdom that must become less so that Christ can become greater. The more we find our identity in Christ the less we will feel the need to build our own kingdom. The less we are focused on our kingdoms, the more we will focused on God's. Who's Kingdom are you building?
Prayer:
Father, forgive us for making it about us and for allowing things to compete with Your eternal Kingdom. Help us to recenter our lives around Christ and Your mission today. We humble ourselves and surrender again to serve Your purposes rather than our own. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
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