So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River (Jesus), the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.”

John replied, “… He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

— John 3:26-30

After a few years of repeated warnings, my sweetheart gave me the heads up that the time had come.

“We’re selling the house,” she told me.

“Sounds good,” I said, not thinking anything would happen.

Nineteen days later, it was sold.

Yikes!

“Now what?” I asked.

Without a pause, “We’re getting rid of stuff.”

“Less is more” became the mantra.

After a few weeks of winnowing, the kids and I just barely made the “to keep” list.

My wife and John the Baptist would have been good friends. He understood the importance of “less.”

It wasn’t stuff that he had in view. It was himself.

Jesus was on the scene now. God the Son was center stage. He needed to exit and join the cheering crowd.

John was no longer the big deal, and he was thrilled about it.

John’s disciples? Not so much. Like moths to flame, pride is to the spotlight.

It’s staggeringly tragic how many lives have been destroyed because of this felt need to be first.

Demanding attention, too many of us miss the one who came to establish our true value and worth.

Wanting more, we miss it all.

True liberty for the soul is found in the truth of less of me and more of him. What adjustment needs to made in your life for Jesus to become greater and greater?

I saw

But Samuel said, “What is this you have done?” Saul replied, “I saw my men scattering from me … so I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.”

“How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.”

— I Samuel 13:1-14

I’d been told many times not to dive into or even jump into unknown waters. Anything could lie under that water just out of sight.

Those thoughts went through my mind as I prepared to take a little jump from the rock ledge back into the dark river swirling beneath the waterfall. I didn’t see anything, but the excruciating pain coming from my now severely sprained ankle told me otherwise.

Sight is a wonderful gift from God. Saul, however, had received something from God that was greater than his sight — a direct command from God himself.

Go and wait seven days for Samuel the prophet. Easy enough, right?

In that time, the enemy forces were growing and his forces were shrinking. He jumped. What he saw overwhelmed his trust in what he was told.

One of the big reasons we don’t seek God’s word is the same reason we choose not to obey it even if we know what it is.

We have a sight problem.

What God sees and what we see are simply not the same things.

It’s staggering how many times we walk right past God’s word, wrapping ourselves in the silliest of excuses.

Saul did. His story didn’t end well.

Ours is still being written. So, what’ll it be … ears or eyes?

Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.