March 23rd, 2022

Who Are You Serving?

John 3:30 NIV

"He must become greater; I must become less."

      In a world full of influencers telling us how we can become greater by keeping up with the latest trends, owning the newest items, and living our "best lives," for ourselves, it can be almost impossible to understand what John was talking about in John 3:30. However, in this short statement, he sums up the whole idea behind being Christians. The world we are faced with today can be a very cruel and selfish world where people portray themselves as something they're not for the next like on social media. Friends use each other's words against one another for their own benefit. We make excuses for giving what we can to others who need it because it might take from what we have set aside for ourselves. It can be so tempting to follow the ways of the world and feed our flesh in order to prosper ourselves according to society's standards. While prospering is good and something we should work towards, we were never meant to do it out of our own selfish gain. 

      As Christians, we are called to deny ourselves and live in likeness with Christ. Likeness that will never fully be achieved because Christ is greater, and we are lesser. He is King and we are servants. But who is it that we're serving? When we choose to serve the world, we are choosing to be above Christ and partake in sinful acts whether we realize it, or not. Living for ourselves causes us to put ourselves on a greater pedestal than Christ. However, when we choose to serve the Lord, we choose to humble ourselves and fight off the desires we are tempted by to live selfishly. While humbling ourselves before the Lord and choosing to take the road less traveled may sound painful, we can rest peacefully knowing that our reward for choosing to make Christ greater, and ourselves lesser is eternal life. John concluded his theory with this statement: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them (V. 36)."

Who are you living for? What are some things that you can change in your life that will help you put Christ before yourself?