“He Must Increase and I Must Decrease”

“You yourselves bear witness to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Then my joy is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:28-30
Like so many things written in Scripture, the power of the occasion is lost oftentimes in the frivolity of the ...story. Such is true in this case with John the Baptist. Here the context is important because it shows the real heart of a man who would not let anything compete with the glory that belonged to Christ and Christ alone. Here, John at the pinnacle of his ministry, at a time where so many people followed him he needed to relocate to a place with enough water to accommodate them all, simply says…it is time for me to step aside. John equates his stepping aside to that of a friend to the bridegroom, one who stands to the side and finds joy in making sure all attention is given to the man of honor. John was a man who could have stood in his own limelight; he could have refused to yield his followers to another’s care, but John was a man who lived his life from only one perspective, and that was how his life fit into the life of Jesus, his Lord. John was born to yield his life to the one whose shoes he was not worthy to loose and the same is true for all who follow Christ today. In this life, we are not called so much to give up anything, as much as we are to simply give the bridegroom the honor He is due. May we find our joy as John did, in seeing Christ honored and glorified above all else!

 Rev. Joel M McDuffie Jr.
6/23/2014