He Must Increase, I Must Decrease: Part 2

When we let Christ take the lead, something starts to grow. In Part 2 of this series on John 3:30, Pastor Linda Reese looked at the fruit of surrender, and at why some of it only grows through difficulty.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Hebrews 12:11 (KJV)

More than being good

The harvest of righteousness is not a tidy record. It is Christ’s own character showing up in an ordinary life: patience where you used to snap, honesty where it costs something, kindness that nobody asked for.

Trading fear for faith

Fear shrinks a life. The repeated promise of Scripture is not that nothing will go wrong, but that you are not alone in it. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

When God’s correction hurts

Discipline is not punishment. Hebrews says God deals with us as sons, and that what feels grievous now yields peaceable fruit later (Hebrews 12:5–11). The pain is not the point. The fruit is.

A love that defies logic

None of this is earned. God loved us while we were still a long way off, and that is what makes surrender safe rather than frightening.

Something to do this week

Name one area where you have been holding the lead, and hand it over on purpose. Read Part 1 for where the series began, and Part 3 for where it lands.

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