He Must Increase, I must Decrease

The Man Minute sixty second investments in Christ-like manhood  
This time of year I'm on the road quite a bit speaking, so this past Christmas my family got me an iPod Touch. Love it. Use it almost as much as my cell phone sometimes. I've been downloading sermons to it, and it's proven to be a great replacement for missing church so much. Not quite the same as being in church, but I still get to hear the Word this way.

So I'm driving down the road listening to this fella and he asks this question, "Where will you be when you get to where you're going?" Can't say why, but that really gripped me. As Amercians, especially American men, we strive hard, and ever harder, all the time. Nothing wrong with that. Yet, the question loomed over me and then morphed a bit as I began to think, "Yeah, not only where will you be when you 'arrive' but 'who' will you be when you get there."

A verse that has haunted me for almost a year now is John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

John was being branded as The Man. He was a hot marketing commodity in the prophetic community, and when Jesus came on the scene, people began to ask John why Jesus' ministry seemingly had more followers than that of John. The wilderness baptist was quick to let the world know that the greater Brand was fixing His iron upon the hearts of His followers, and this was the expected outcome, for John was just a marketing agent for another Man.

Promotion is a weird and toxic thing if it's not carefully guarded. In my world, where exposure is a big deal, the product is most often YOU. You are the brand. Even more toxic when not guarded.

I am forever drawn to what it means to learn how to find more and more ways to increase Jesus while, as John did, intentionally decrease myself. When I get where I'm going, I want my heart to be as free as John must have felt that day out in the country when he said to the masses, "He who comes from above is above all ..."

www.jasoncruisespeaks.com and www.outdoorministrynetwork.com