ECWA Daily Devotion for Monday 29 August, 2022

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2022

TEXT: John 3:22-36

22. After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized.

23. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized.

24. John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

25. Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.

26. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”

27. John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.”

28. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.

29. He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.

30. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

31. The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

32. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony.

33. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true.

34. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

35. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.

36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

(New Revised Standard Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: JESUS MUST BECOME GREATER

Jesus took His disciples to the Judean rural area for a retreat and later conducted baptism too, like John the Baptizer. Note that John’s disciples heard that Jesus was baptizing and that those going to Him were increasing in number while very few were going to John.

It is normal for your followers to feel uncomfortable when they see someone younger than you in the ministry, perhaps someone you even mentored, becoming more popular while you are diminishing. But John the Baptizer placed these happenings in the right perspective thus: “He [Jesus Christ] must become greater; I must become less” (v. 30).

This explains John’s earlier words that “a person can receive only what is given them from heaven” and that his “joy is now complete” because Jesus had taken His rightful position in the master plan of God’s will. Jesus must take the most important place in our lives at all times.

QUESTION: What place does Jesus occupy in your life today?

PRAYER: I surrender all to Jesus and to Him alone. I bow in order that He will be magnified. Help me accept this offering today, in Jesus name, Amen.