Too much of me

Still too much of me

Thought- Surrendering all of our life to Jesus is hard, not surrendering it is even harder.

Scripture- “He must become greater; I must become less.”John 3:30

Insight: I was praying this am and I realized that there is still too much of “me” in my relationship with Jesus. This is the part of my relationship with Him that still hinders all He wants to do for me, and in me. It is the horizontal living stuff, or scar tissue of life that accumulates as a result of spending time living that way, that needs to constantly be brought to the throne in repentance in order for me to create more room for Him, enough room for Him to radically transform me. When I am living horizontally ( me focused ) instead of vertically ( Jesus focused ) some of things I can expect to see happen are: A short temper, easy agitation, seeking constant affirmation, hurt feelings, prideful in relation to others, greedy, narcissistic, fleshly desires, unforgiveness and anger. Other than that, I have it all under control, and that is only a small subset of the things that happen when I focus on me instead of Him!

However, when I change the focus to vertical living, focused on Jesus, everything is different. I can expect to see the fruits of the Spirit begin to manifest in my life in tangible ways. I will then expect to see some of these things from Galatians 5:22-23 come to the forefront of my daily interactions, as God works in me: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are not my normal, fleshly reactions when I am living horizontally, focused on me. But these are the fruit that the Spirit produces in me when I am living vertically, with Christ as the rudder of my life ship. Which way is best?  The answer is pretty clear, although still not easy, as John says above “He must become greater; I must become less.”John 3:30

Prayer: Father God, help us through the power of the Holy Spirit to stop living horizontally, focused on ourselves, but to live vertically, focused on you. That is when our life works best and the way you intended. We pray in Jesus name for strength to admit this truth, that we must decrease, so He can increase. Amen!