You Have Permission to Be Great

If you've been taught to make yourself smaller—to dim your light for the sake of humility—prepare to shed the chains of small thinking as we explore the true meaning behind John the Baptist's famous words found in John 3:30: “He must become greater; I must become less.”

Transcript

Michele: 0:00

Hey, there it's, Michele. Welcome to episode three of New Creation Meditations. Today I'm going to start out with a quick teaching and then lead you in a meditation, and I want to chat today about one of the most misunderstood and mistaught verses in the Gospels, and it's found in John, chapter three, verse 30, where John the Baptist famously stated he must become greater, I must become less. It's also translated he must increase, but I must decrease, and usually when we hear this taught in church, it's usually in the context of becoming humble or becoming smaller or going low or something along those lines. But let's be really clear. This verse has nothing to do with you playing small. It has nothing to do with you becoming a lesser version of yourself or disappearing. Jesus does not want you to disappear. He does not want you to become a lesser version of yourself. He doesn't want less of you. He wants all of you. He doesn't want less of you. He made you for a purpose. He doesn't want you to disappear. He wants you to be fully you mixed with him.

Michele: 1:26

So this verse has to do with the dissolving away of the old covenant, which was represented in the person of John the Baptist, and the breaking in of the new and better covenant, which was represented in the person of Jesus. So when John the Baptist says that he must decrease, it means the old covenant system was decreasing and fading away and that he must increase, meaning Jesus, that Jesus was breaking in with his new and better covenant, which is good news for all of us. So this verse represents an incredible picture of this exchange. It's kind of like a passing of the baton, in which John the Baptist, the old covenant, so to speak, passes the baton and gives way to Jesus, who represents the new and better covenant. So when you hear this verse taught or mentioned, I want you to think of it in terms of covenants. It's not about you. How often has this verse been mistaught in churches and brought people into so much bondage and smallness? It just it makes me crazy to think about.

Michele: 2:40

This verse is not about you playing small so Jesus can be big. Yes, of course our lives are meant to bring glory to God, but you cannot glorify God by playing small. The kingdom is not going to be advanced by you backing down and disappearing and becoming less and playing smaller than you're meant to play. So if you've ever come under the bondage of this verse being incorrectly taught in church, I want to give you an opportunity right now to get free from that and completely change your mind about that.

Michele: 3:22

So, first of all, if you know that you were taught incorrectly, why don't you go ahead and just take a minute to forgive that person in your heart, because most people aren't trying to mislead you, they've just been wrongly taught themselves. And then, after you've said a word of forgiveness toward that person, I'd like you to take a minute, just put your hand on your heart and say Jesus, I give myself permission to be as big as you have called me to be, amen. And if you ever start to feel small again, I want you to come back to this episode and listen to this meditation again as many times as you need to, and maybe you can share it with a friend who might need to hear this too. Thanks for joining me today. And remember, you have full permission to be great.