5th Gear: Less is More

5th Gear: Less is More

“He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30)

In our modern Self-worshipping “I gotta be me” society, the idea of “becoming less” is
anathema. Furthermore, the idea of becoming less because Jesus is becoming more in
our lives would be met with howls and stiff-arms.

Frank Sinatra speaks for us all: “I did it my way!”

Of course, only in a different Kingdom than the kingdom of Self could such a dichotomy
be a reality: my dying to Self and seeking to become less, for the specific reason that
Jesus becomes more in my life, leads me to actually become more!

Jesus spoke clearly about this idea of becoming less. We call it “dying to Self:”

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me
will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

Jesus is saying that if we try to hold onto our Selfs, and the life our Self demands, we
will never experience his life of peace and contentment. But, if we are willing, and
particularly are happily willing, to agree with John the Baptist, that “He must become
greater; I must become less,” we will find and live and thrive in Jesus’ “Life that is truly
life.” (1 Timothy 6:19)

Now, the amazing thing, the almost inconceivable thing, is that as we become less and
Jesus becomes more, we start to become more – yes, more of what our loving
Heavenly Father created and designed us to be. Our true personality emerges. The
Self-world to which we have been prisoners – that’s right, prisoners! – loses its grip, as
well as its charm.

We can then begin to experience the freedom Jesus promised:

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  32  Then you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

“Wait a minute!” you might cry out, “That makes no sense! Becoming less, dying to Self,
cannot possibly set me free!”

Oh, yes it can. When we deliberately embrace “He must become greater; I must
become less,” the freedom we experience allows us to finally become who we were
meant to be.

C.S. Lewis calls it our “Secret signature of the soul.”

If You Want a Little More:

The Secret Signature of the Soul (C.S. Lewis)

Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say ‘Here at last is the thing I was made for.’
We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the
incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives
or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our
deathbeds….

All that you are, sins apart, is destined, if you will let God have His good way, to utter
satisfaction… Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone,
because you were made for it — made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a
hand. (The Problem of Pain – Italics added)