He Must Increase

Chrissy Lookabaugh

When deciding what to write about that would be helpful, I prayed about it and then I asked my 14 year old son, Camden, for his opinion on the subjects the Lord had put upon my heart. He gave me a brutally honest answer which was completely unrelated to what I had asked him: it was obviously something that was on his heart. He told me that he was so aggravated about how someone was treating him. I paused for a minute and gave him some advice, but then I realized the Lord had also just given me exactly what I had asked for, which was a relatable subject that we all could use.

Has anyone ever aggravated, hurt, or wronged you in word or deed? I dare say that if my usually calm and easygoing son can already name some, then you too have experienced this issue to some degree in your life. I started to think about this subject more, and quickly realized that it was just discussed in this past Sunday’s sermon. Pastor Marc had warned us against putting any person in the position where God should be because they would disappoint us if we did. Then I also remembered Pastor Skelly’s preaching from past years telling us, “the best of men are men at best.”

Both of these examples can easily be proven true if we know any person long enough. Another common saying is that you should never meet your heroes. I would take that even further, because when meeting someone you might think they are perfect, but if you are around them long enough, you will quickly learn that nobody is perfect. Anytime we put someone in the place that only the Lord can hold, it leads to no good. Even if we live by the saying, “treat others as you want to be treated,” we still will be left disappointed because we are all imperfect people. It would be a much better life if we made it a priority to treat others as the Lord treats us.

John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.

This is the solution to the problem! He must increase, but I must decrease. You usually don’t think of decreasing as good in anything except weight loss goals, but I have come to realize that part of my daily prayers needs to be for Him to increase and me to decrease or the results won't be the best they can be. This doesn’t make your life worse; the decrease of self actually makes your life better if He is what is increasing.

If you were honest and wrote down or thought of any names of people who are aggravating or disappointing, then you would have to include yourself (as I included myself) because we have all done that to someone at some point in our lives. Double ugh! The list includes me, yikes! Shocker: none of us are perfect! So what can we do to change this or make it better?

If we have aggravated or disappointed anyone, it would be good for our soul if we would seek the person out and apologize so we can move forward in love and peace. Not being sorry or continuing the disappointing or aggravating behavior is a terrible choice and won’t bring healing, joy, or peace. We should humble ourselves when we know we have done wrong, then apologize and change because people need people!

Psalm 145:3

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

The Lord gave us people for a reason. Although people are capable of terrible things, whether on purpose or by accident, imperfect people like you and me can also do great things!

The Lord has blessed us with so much, and what's most important are not things. You come into life needing someone to love and take care of you. You don’t go through hard times in life clinging to cash or material possessions to get you through. You cling to the people who are there and show up to help you.

The Lord is the only one worthy and He, in His divine wisdom, gave us people. He knows we are imperfect, disappointing, sinful, and aggravating, yet He still accepts us as His family. He still claims us and loves us as His with all of that baggage if we accept Him. That is something truly worthy of praise!