Less Is More
Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest man ever born of woman. What did he mean by that? Well, think of Jesus’ own criterion of greatness: “He who would be great among you, let him be the servant of all” (Mark 10:43). John was a perfect exemplar of this radical definition because it fell to him to utter the most noble words ever to come from the mouth of man: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Jesus must increase, but I must decrease! To say that of Jesus and mean it is to be great in the eyes of God.
Is that the way we feel about Jesus? Or is our concern, even in his service, that we increase, that people say how spiritual, or what great men and women of faith, or what great Bible teachers or visionary leaders we are? May it never be! Rather, let us decrease into greatness.
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
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