Who Will Increase in 2025?

2025 is here. Isn’t that hard to believe? Time just keeps going…and going…and going…

Last week I heard a sermon about the small verse we find in John 3:

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

The context for this tiny, convicting verse is found in earlier verses, where we find John the Baptist explaining that he is not the Christ. John the Baptist made this declaration about his own ministry and it was written down for us to read in God’s Word.

The question from the sermon was simply: How will Christ increase in my life in 2025?

I’ve been thinking about this question ever since.

In looking up the Greek words, we can know that the translations are pretty straightforward—Increase: to augment or grow greater; Decrease: to make less or inferior.

The natural tendency for all of us is to increase ourselves. We want to grow stronger and better and have an easier life. Our natural inclination is to worry about ourselves and how things are going to affect us.

It goes against all that is in us to NOT do this.

That’s where Jesus Christ comes in. Truly. We can’t think of Christ first and foremost if we aren’t saved. This is impossible.

But for those of us who are saved, it’s still hard, isn’t it? At least it is for me. Our love for self doesn’t disappear after we are saved and we continue to naturally be drawn to what is best for ourselves.

Loving ourselves looks so different for each one of us. Some of us are obvious about it. Others of us are not. Selfishness comes in all kinds of ways and it’s a temptation for every single one of us. Saved or unsaved.

The difference is that, as believers, we know that this little verse should be describing us, too. Christ should be increasing in our lives and we should be decreasing.

Let’s think about a few changes or resolutions that people generally make for the new year—things like losing weight, drinking less alcohol, keeping to a budget, and others.

Why do people make these resolutions? We make them because we want to have a better life. It’s mostly about ourselves and our experience here on earth.

And there’s nothing wrong with improving ourselves. Losing weight is a good thing, having self control when we spend money is a good thing, drinking less (or not at all) is a great thing.

My question for myself is: Is what God wants more important than what I want? Is what I want a biblical desire or is it a selfish desire? WHY do I want what I want?

The other night, we were talking about how entertainment has changed our culture. Most of us can’t remember the culture without the black box in our home, filling and gobbling up our precious minutes. And it’s grown and grown, until the culture is utterly consumed by technology. Handheld devices have irrevocably changed the culture and, overall, it is not for the better. Stop and think for a moment how it’s all changed in your lifetime.

How is this relevant to our topic of Christ increasing and me decreasing?

It’s because we never allow ourselves time to think anymore. We don’t pray. We don’t reflect. That little device dings and flashes and we become its slave. Oh, I know this doesn’t describe us all. But, as a whole, this is the culture.

How do we experience conviction on how the Lord wants us to grow and change if we never give ourselves time to think? How does Christ increase in our lives when we are only concerned with the here and now? How do we be the believer that God wants us to be when our attention span is just a few short minutes long and then we lose concentration? How do we learn to think if we can’t even give another person our attention but instead choose to watch a game on TV or look at our phones at a family gathering?

Mediating on God’s Word and discussing the things of the Lord with like-minded believers… do we do this? These are the things that motivate us towards living a life where Christ increases and we decrease.

Last night someone asked me a question. It was a question about whether or not something is right or wrong. It doesn’t matter what the question was. As we discussed it, we had all kinds of opinions.

At one point, my youngest daughter said this: The key is that we are willing to surrender this to God, if we believe it’s wrong.

We never did come to a conclusion about the question but her point was an excellent one.

This is so often our problem, isn’t it? The things that would increase Christ in our lives and decrease ourselves are not things we want to give up. They are wrapped about with our own strong desires and sometimes with deep sentiment and precious memories.

For example, Disney was a hard one for me personally. We had many precious memories as a family that surrounded Disney. I wanted to take my grandchildren to Disney World. When I came face to face with the fact that Mr. Disney was not the nice man everyone says he was and that, in fact, his movies and places promote things that are clearly against scripture, I balked. I rationalized. I denied. I ignored. Honestly, it took much prayer and quite a bit of time to finally remove this from my life. This has been a few years now, and I am not sorry. I have no regrets.

But when we are in the midst of something, we can’t imagine our lives without it. And so we just ignore the conviction that niggles in the back of our brains.

Listen, I am right with you in this. God has made me aware of some real weaknesses in my life that must change if He is to increase in my life.

We can’t do it alone. It’s why our time in prayer and the Word is so important. It is when we are convicted about something that God, through His Holy Spirit, gives us strength and paves the way to change. HE makes it possible. No amount of self-discipline or hutzpa will bring spiritual transformation. It is just a bit like riding an electric bicycle: We need to pedal, but God is the motor. He is what makes peddling up that impossibly steep hill possible.

Thankfully, we aren’t required to change everything instantly. But, little by little, we take small steps towards looking more like Jesus.

I know this is not a “feel good” New Year’s message. But at the, end of the day, as my middle daughter told me yesterday: feelings are irrelevant. And so they are. Feeling good rarely yields biblical fruit.

As we head into 2025, I want to decrease and I want Christ to increase. Will you join me in purposefully setting aside time to pray and be in the Word faithfully? In being more intentional to make time for reflection instead of always gravitating towards something to fill my mind? (Phones, tvs, people)

I am not sure where you are in all of this, but I know how far I have to go. May we grow together, through God’s Word and the power of His Holy Spirit, and look more like Christ this time next year!