“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. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:29–30, LSB
As John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing, he, of course, met challenges from other Jewish leaders, but he always knew his purpose and understood his place. He didn’t seek the glory for himself but pointed to the Bride and the coming Bridegroom. It is our human nature to seek out affirmation and praise. It is something I, as a pastor, appreciate, but we must all be careful not to let that be all that drives us in our actions. If all we do is seek appreciation and praise, we may begin to do things that are good for the wrong purposes and miss out on the greater adulations that we should always seek from our Lord. If we are loved by our fellow believers but are far away from God, we still lose. We can be like the virgins whose lamps had run out of oil and miss the Bridegroom and are left outside of the door, knocking and being told that our Lord does not know us. Yet, when our goal is to bring people closer to the Father and seek to serve Him in all aspects of our lives, we may find that there may be those who stand at odds with us because we don’t stand by their message, but when it is about the Lord, this is where we become less as He becomes more in our lives. Our message is one that points to His glory, not our own.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.