He must increase, I must decrease.

 He must increase, but I must decrease….Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
(John 3:31, 36)

    You know, when I was five, I could have been anything. An All Black, a train driver, a plumber, an astronaut.
    By the time I was 18, none of those dreams were likely to come true. Potentially, I could have become one of them, but in choosing to become an astronaut (had I done so), I would have had to give up the potential to become anything else.
    When you’re single and 25, potentially you could marry any other person of the opposite sex. But once you marry, you sacrifice that potential, while the door to other possibilities (such as fatherhood) become realistic.
    When you are young, you have few memories (I have only one or two memories prior to the age of 5). Now, in my middle-age, I have many memories, but far less potential. I have memories of my time in Argentina, but little chance of returning.
    And it seems that men in their 80s have many memories, but much reduced potential. Health issues for a man I know means that his days of international travel are over, but he has many great memories of his time abroad. Now he has trouble walking, but he has memories of his feet taking him many places.
    My potential, looking square on, is getting less and less. One day, when I die (which I hope to be many decades off), my potential will be zero. And my memories will die with me, and I too will become, just a memory. And this would all be incredibly tragic, if it were the whole truth about life and death. But it isn’t the whole truth, because one man, whose name and glory must increase, has conquered death. In the world to come, there will only be good memories, and there will be unlimited potential, for the passage of time will have no impact whatsoever. There will be no tomorrow there, for it will always be today.
    Which means we will have both the potential and the time to learn every language under the sun. We will have the potential, and time, to meet everyone we want to meet from history (assuming the individual is a believer in Jesus) and the time to become friends.
    Part of the good news of Jesus Christ is that he makes this life meaningful, and shows us that the apparent meaningless of life (caused by the inevitability of death) is a false spectre. The resurrection is real, death is temporary.
    And so, as my potential decreases as I get older, so the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ in my life must become greater. He must increase, I must decrease…

Increase your Spirit in me today Lord, may there be more of you, and less of me…