It's 3:30
What time is it? To set up this blog I had to choose a timezone. There were a lot to choose from. If I wanted I could have picked anywhere from Saskatchewan to Cambodia. Predictably, I chose EST, which of course reflects the clock on my monitor and the one in my kitchen. But I didn't have to. Blogger.com would not have sent me a condescending message about not knowing which timezone I'm in if I did not pick EST. So, why am I saying all of this? Well, it helps to know what time it is. Without a watch, you can get pretty good at approximating the hour of the day. You might even be able to tell the quarter-hour. But I doubt you'll know the minutes or seconds - unless you swallow some quartz. Which brings up a story I heard once. The Swiss had cornered the market on watchmaking. The precision they incorporated using tiny gears and springs was incredible. One day, a man came to them with a brand new idea for a watch. It involved using quartz. Swiss said, no way, it will never fly. Well, it did. Somebody was thinking outside the egg-carton, outside the microwave-safe tupperware, outside of just throwing a wrench in the gears.
Which brings us back to the time. It's 3:30. John 3:30 actually. "He must become greater, I must become less." The words of John the Baptist are remarkable in that Jesus himself said that John was the greatest prophet that ever lived (Mt. 11:11) John knew what time it was. Jesus had come onto the scene. John must shrink from view. He went to his death under Herod's captivity, being beheaded by Herodias for saying that their marriage was wrong. But before that John also said, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." It was time to "behold" Jesus. Not just glance or even look. Behold. Fix a steady gaze. "Looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith". Keep looking. Keep seeing. There's more to see. You are never done taking in who He is.
We can get distracted by so many things (Martha and Mary?) and lose sight of the purpose of our re-birth. Being a new creation in Christ means being an extention of Him. His interests become yours, his motivation becomes yours, his means and ends are also inextricably yours. There is no other way for life to flourish, become manifold, and be more abundant, than for Christ to simply live it out in you. You can't do it. You must "become less." In your own estimation and by reputation you must decrease. Paul started his letters saying that he was "the least of the apostles". He then went on to call himself, "the least of all saints". When he was older, writing to his friend Timothy he called himself "the chief of sinners".
Don't be afraid to diminish. God wasn't either. Christ did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, of no reputation, and emptied Himself. It can be a scary thing to actually demote yourself, but don't be afraid. We have a forerunner who took that road all the way to death. But death looks different now doesn't it?
So, it's time for the increase of the Lord Jesus. May you be found by Him, in Him, of Him, through Him, to Him and for Him. Start now. It's not too late.
BJ
Which brings us back to the time. It's 3:30. John 3:30 actually. "He must become greater, I must become less." The words of John the Baptist are remarkable in that Jesus himself said that John was the greatest prophet that ever lived (Mt. 11:11) John knew what time it was. Jesus had come onto the scene. John must shrink from view. He went to his death under Herod's captivity, being beheaded by Herodias for saying that their marriage was wrong. But before that John also said, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." It was time to "behold" Jesus. Not just glance or even look. Behold. Fix a steady gaze. "Looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith". Keep looking. Keep seeing. There's more to see. You are never done taking in who He is.
We can get distracted by so many things (Martha and Mary?) and lose sight of the purpose of our re-birth. Being a new creation in Christ means being an extention of Him. His interests become yours, his motivation becomes yours, his means and ends are also inextricably yours. There is no other way for life to flourish, become manifold, and be more abundant, than for Christ to simply live it out in you. You can't do it. You must "become less." In your own estimation and by reputation you must decrease. Paul started his letters saying that he was "the least of the apostles". He then went on to call himself, "the least of all saints". When he was older, writing to his friend Timothy he called himself "the chief of sinners".
Don't be afraid to diminish. God wasn't either. Christ did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, of no reputation, and emptied Himself. It can be a scary thing to actually demote yourself, but don't be afraid. We have a forerunner who took that road all the way to death. But death looks different now doesn't it?
So, it's time for the increase of the Lord Jesus. May you be found by Him, in Him, of Him, through Him, to Him and for Him. Start now. It's not too late.
BJ
posted by BJ at 12:06 p.m.
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