THURSDAY, May 29th, 2008

Hello, Wonderful People! How are you doing on this fine day? I hope that all is well with you and your family. I think it is pretty grand that we have had a visitor in Japan. (thanks to my sister Amanda) My Sister told her friend in Japan to go check out our devotional blog and she did, and now we have other countries on our blog. Do you know anyone out of the country that you could get to check out our blog?

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
McCue: That would be awesome if you guys started a Bible study, I think it could really help you be a "light" to the regiment!
Rachel: Wow! Powerful stuff: "we like to turn off the lights every once in a while so we can mess with darkness as we wish" Great point!
Amy: We miss you two! When will you be home?
Brooke: Good stuff girl! I agree with you! One thing also: It is ok to tell people that they will go to Hell if they do not accept Christ, BUT- You must tell them with Love, not with condemnation. And USUALLY it helps to have a relationship with them before you tell them, but everyone needs to know the truth.
Jessica: Yeah, it is "hard fo sho"! You are too funny!
Ryan: Hey man! Thanks for the encouragement! And if you are so "rich" then buy me a car! lol
Sarah: Good to see you girl! I think that they will email you your password if you click "forgot password" on the main page.

GO READ WHAT I SAID BEFORE YOU READ THE PASSAGE. IT WILL HELP YOUR APPLICATION!

John 3:22-36
22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.
23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.
24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.
26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”
27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’
29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
32 And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.
33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.
34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

This story is so neat, because we get a real picture of what our flesh is like, and we see a great example of godliness in the testimony of John. Think about this: Have you ever done something, and then someone else did the same thing and everyone was patting them on the back and you did not get any credit? Well that is kind of what happened here. Remember when this book started? John was baptizing people. When we get to the end of Chapter 3 we see that John is still baptizing people, but so is Jesus. It is interesting to see how John's Disciples and the Jews reacted over the fact that Jesus was baptizing: It even seems silly and childish... that is how we are when we are in the flesh.
Johns followers walk up to him and say: (vs. 26) Hey!!! This is not cool! Everyone is going over there to Jesus to get baptized!! What about you John!! You were the first one! They should be coming to you! Not Jesus!!!

They were wrong. John had incredible insight and wisdom in his answer. John says: (vs. 27) I could only baptize people in the first place because Christ allowed me to! I already told you that I am not the "great one" here! It is Christ!
John then goes on to tell a great illustration. He explains that in a normal situation at a wedding, the friends of the bride are not mad at the bride for marrying the groom. When everyone is behaving then the friends are not jealous of the bride BUT THEY ARE HAPPY FOR THE BRIDE!

John makes it clear, that it is wrong to get worked up about this: because that would be like being mad at a bride on her wedding day. It is not about the friends on the wedding day: it is about the bride!

John knew that this life was not about himself! Johns life was about Christ.

John went on to say: (vs. 30) He "Jesus" must increase, I must decrease. I think it would be wise if we all made that verse our motto. We must remember as John did: this life is not about me. This life is not about you! This life is about Christ. It is when we forget that, that we allow so many problems into our life.

We must have a great attitude about life: Just like John did. Even when it did not seem like things were to fair for John, he knew that it did not matter: because this life was not about himself.

You are going to have tough times in life, unexpected situations, heartache, even things that are absolutey not right or fair, but we must remember that this life is not about us. It is about Christ!

I must remember my purpose is to make Christ appear bigger and greater to the world, and make myself seem smaller.

Christ must increase, Lee must Decrease!