He must become greater; I must become less

He must become greater; I must become less.
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard. . .(John 3:30-32).

One day, St. John's disciples asked him about Jesus, saying, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him." John told his followers that he himself could only fulfill his role God has provided him, and then he reminded them he was sent ahead of Christ. John showed that his call in life was not to reveal or bring glory to himself. God has a role for everyone in his plan; John's call was to allow Christ to be revealed through him. Christ must become the greater than himself, in life, direction, and purpose.

I struggle with my life, purpose and direction. I am often confused, discontent and frustrated. Trying to please   God's will leads me to just become more confused as I try to unravel his ultimate plan for me. Sometimes during prayer it gets hard for me to just talk to God. At Church or abroad, I often hide my true feelings, try to act macho, and try to stand on my own; I don't need God to help me, I'm fine on my own. Everyone struggles with giving up their problems to God. We must learn to give up our lives, in prayer and in heart, to God's plan; then we may find peace in our world.

Perhaps we would like to be as certain as John was in knowing his own life purpose. For what we are to do and God's purpose for our lives is something we want to know, but as we said, it is so very difficult and confusing. Perhaps we could look to John the Baptist's and Jesus' example to help us, for they both seemed confident of their calling.

Jesus saw His purpose clearly - He was to reveal God to us. Many things take place in this revelation. As God is revealed to us, we discover Him for who He really is and how our viewpoint of His person has been distorted by opinion, bias, guilt, pride, fear, and sin. We know that at the time Christ came, He came to God's chosen people, and He came with a purpose of revealing to them who God really is. Why does God need to be revealed to his own people? The true representation of God has been distorted, even to those closest to Him. That distortion has caused people to fear God, distrust Him, disbelieve Him and hide from Him, like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. We must learn to recognize God; he is our friend. Christ came to allow God to reveal Himself through His Son. Jesus did so by becoming less, so God could be exalted.

John the Baptist went throughout his life on the same implication; by becoming less, Christ would be able to reveal God through him. John was able to make it possible for others to see God in Him by pointing others not to his own accomplishments, but to Jesus.

There are three beliefs that will help us find out God's plan for us:

1. We shouldn't seek out his plan for us out of selfishness. If we do we will surely miss. We must look out and see how we can help others to grow closer to God.
2. We must become less and allow Him to become greater. Unless we become second in our own lives we will see nothing but ourselves, our desires, and our goals as we consider where we should be in this life. 
3. God still wants to reveal Himself to us and He can only do it through humble and selfless hearts. 

Many in this world still need to hear the Good News. We must live lives that do not exalt self, but allow God to reveal Himself through us. "He must become greater; we must become less."