The Smallest in Christ

If I had to choose one Bible verse to characterize the cry of my heart and the attitude I want to have toward the Lord, I would pick Psalm 19:14: 

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.



 

When everything is stripped away and I'm hunkered down at my desk with a messy stack of papers, books, a tall cup of Starbucks and a cat wedged between my monitor and my keyboard in a blissful state of "desk sprawl," I just want to be obedient, available, and willing to express the message that the Lord wants me to share with the world.  

 

Recently, I was reading a missions report from a Russian pastor. This humble, godly man risks his life to drive his car hundreds of miles over frozen lakes with NO ROADS and NO SIGNS to visit Christians in isolated villages in Siberia. Often, his car breaks through the ice and almost falls into the freezing water. It's a true miracle that he makes it across that frozen taiga. Every few miles, he faces a life-threatening situation, and God rescues him. Over and over. At any moment, his life could end. And sometimes he does all of this to reach JUST ONE PERSON for the sake of Jesus Christ. Most amazing of all, at the bottom of the page, after describing these truly harrowing adventures, this man signed his name "The Smallest in Christ."

 

Wow. Ouch. God, is my desire to be THE SMALLEST IN CHRIST? Do I consider it a privilege to be last so others can be first? As an author, (yes, even as a Christian author) I see that there's a lot of positioning and placement done, lots of fuss and seeking after fame, lots of buzz about "who's the next big name," "who's the next rising star." 

 

I'm pretty sure that God is calling us to eliminate all of that and instead, to call on the Name that is above every name.

 

Like Christ, we have to be willing to give up any vestige of glory and allow ourselves to be THE SMALLEST IN CHRIST. Let's make His name large. He must increase. We must decrease.     

 

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