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All I Can See

He must become greater; I must become less. John 3:30

Krista stood in the freezing cold on a winter day, looking at the beautiful snow-encased lighthouse along the lake. As she pulled out her phone to take pictures, her glasses fogged over. She couldn’t see a thing so she decided to point her camera toward the lighthouse and snapped three pictures at different angles. Looking at them later, she realized the camera had been set to take “selfies.” She laughed as she said, “My focus was me, me, and me. All I saw was me.” Krista’s photos got me thinking of a similar mistake: We can become so self-focused we lose sight of the bigger picture of God’s plan.

Jesus’s cousin John clearly knew his focus wasn’t himself. Right from the start he recognized that his position or calling was to point others to Jesus, the Son of God. “Look, the Lamb of God!” he said when he saw Jesus coming toward him and his followers (John 1:29). He continued, “The reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed” (v. 31). When John’s disciples later reported that Jesus was gaining followers, John said, “You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ . . . He must become greater; I must become less” (3:28–30).

May the central focus of our lives be Jesus and loving Him with our whole heart. 

How can I love Jesus best? Who might He want me to love?

Lord, I often get centred on myself and my needs and wants. Help me to look outside of myself to You.

INSIGHT

Scholars disagree about who is speaking in John 3:31–34. Does it continue John the Baptist’s endorsement of Jesus, or is it John the apostle adding his postscript to that endorsement? Since quotation marks were not used in ancient Greek, it’s open to interpretation. What is certain, however, is that the repeated phrase describes the nature of Christ—He is “above all” (v. 31).

Bill Crowder

By |2019-01-29T12:05:17-05:00February 4th, 2019|
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