On Becoming Less

As we head into year end I find it helpful to look back and look ahead. What was 2007 like and what might 2008 be like? I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, but I do believe in resolving.

What should we resolve? To believe.

That is it. Simple. Straightforward. That is what Jesus both tells us to do and enables us to do. He is about believing. It is His "thing."

Don't you hate simple statements like that, when you look at your life and say, "It can't be done!" Lets talk through it and maybe get some direction.

Here is what I find: I occasionally believe and often do not. I wish terribly that I would believe more. Not just cognitively but functionally as I am out in the world. It is in the world that my belief gets shallow because there I am overwhelmed by The Mores. People who are more beautiful, more knowledgeable, more assertive, more focused, more willing to do what it takes to get their way, more powerful, more endowed, more skinny, more. I find I can not compete and I lose heart, feeling like I am less.

So, what am I to do? The Mores will always be there. I try to look beyond to the One who is More, but that is in my own strength and it does not seem to help. What am I to do? Realize I am less. Resolve to believe I am less. In and of my self I am less. Jesus knows who I am: less.

He does not want me to be more. He wants me to believe. I need to believe I am less, because I am less than I believe. That is the direction to run. That is the beginning of health.

In my "lessness" I find wholeness. It is then that I can stand behind Him and wet His feet with my tears as I wipe them with my hair and pour perfume on them. Or I can beat my breast and say, "Lord have mercy on me a sinner!" Or I can say, "I am not worthy, only say the word and I will be healed" Or I can just be silent.

Somewhere along that pathway I think we can find peace and joy. Resolved: For Him to increase and me to decrease and not to measure by any other stick. The Son is on the pathway of those who are less and who have broken and contrite hearts.

So today I am praying as you begin to think of 2008 that He will help your unbelief and make less of you as you make much of Him.