Do You Struggle with Math?

John 3:30-36 ~

He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms. The One who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true. For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands. 

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Math is not my strong suit and I always struggled with it in school. It seems as if I struggle with it in life as well. As I opened this passage of John and read it this morning, I see that it's a math equation. 

Me < Jesus = increased Spirit, increased work of God in me and eternal life with no limit

And yet, the tendency is to continually push myself to the front and allow pride and self-righteousness to get in the way. Allowing Christ to increase in me while I decrease is difficult because it takes a constant checking of my motives and desires.

It's vital we get this though because the opposite equation is true too.

Me > Jesus = decreased Holy Spirit being evidenced, decreased work of God in my life and for those who reject Him, a final end to life. 

There are so many words of measurement within this passage though that tell me I'm on the right track with this blessed math equation.

For those who receive Christ there are words such as...increase and decrease (v. 30), above or greater than all (v.31), without measure (v. 34), gives all or with no limits (v.35), eternal which means no limits nor measure (v. 36). The ones who reject Christ are putting a limit or measurement on their life (v. 36b).

As we seek to decrease so Jesus can increase in our lives we will see a work of the Holy Spirit that is without measure and is given freely to everyone. We are given eternal life without limits. Jesus gives Himself without limit. When we allow Him to increase in our life and allow ourselves to decrease we will see that there is no limit on what He can do in us to change and mold us into women and men who can be used by Him.

That's a math equation that I can understand. It's also a math equation that requires a daily surrendering of my will, my selfish desires, my frailed and faulty understanding of what I think I need. It's a math equation that requires staying connected to the Lord so that He can work it out and solve it.

This kind of math is a struggle at times, but I want to stick at it because at the end of my life, I want to look back and see that I was on the right track with coming up with the solution.