DECREASE TO INCREASE!

Welcome, welcome to the Front Porch today!  It is going to be a Spectacular Saturday…

Here in the Big D…in the 60’s, sunny…nice break from some of the weather we have had lately.  But, “HEY”…you didn’t stop by to talk about the weather.

 

So let’s just jump right into this thing.

Downsize…not a nice word.  We all know someone who has experienced this.

Funny word, word really just heard the past few years.  Companies use this term to justify letting employees ‘go’…meaning you no longer have a job, you are laid off, perhaps even fired, gone. 

There are many reasons for this to occur:

               *Companies lose customers…no longer need employees

               *Companies are sold and work is ‘outsourced’ to places such as India

                                                     (shame on America L)

               *Family dynamics change and smaller homes are needed

               *Finances change and therefore less expensive homes needed

               *Gas prices soar and smaller cars needed

               *Go on a diet and cut down meal portions

Think we all get the picture…it simply means cut down, reduce….rework the budget, cut out the frills, cut back on expenses

So, in looking at just some of the reasons for downsizing, chances are most of us will experience one, two or several of those reasons for downsizing.

But, long before ‘downsizing’ became vogue, or a ‘buzz’ word in our present day economy, the Bible spoke of downsizing…

While it is a word with a negative connation, there comes a time to do this physically:

 downsize houses, cars, junk in our lives; clean up our act.

Even more important:

downsize spiritually.

Most people recover and bounce back from the downsizing mentioned above…things may be different...but nothing quite like losing everything….brings us to our knees…makes us ‘prioritize’ like downsizing..

But back to the Word…

One of the best examples of downsizing is John the Baptist… (note; not of the denomination but because he baptized )...John 1:26…”I baptize with water, but there is One among you, whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am no worthy to loose’……

John 3:30 “HE must increase, but I must decrease’. 

The Message states: “This is the assigned moment for HIM to move into the center, while I slip off the sidelines’.

  Downsize

John the Baptist knew all about downsizing…both physically and spiritually

Look at what he ate and what he wore…locusts, wild honey and camel hair...

Downsizing

Hmmm...most of the time we want to be

 front and center…

and say

 ‘me, me, me'…

look at me,

it’s all about me’…

Downsize, for us to be a success in the Kingdom...

we must downsize, downplay, and move down from front and center and decrease:

our will, our way our wants…

and let HIM INCREASE in our will, our way our wants.

Not the practice, prescribed policies in our current society…we are told the opposite:

Have it your way….why?

You deserve this….really?

Pamper, polish and prepare yourself….where are you going?

You owe it to yourself…. says who?

Think we all get the picture…this is not the mindset of God and certainly not His Will, His Way His Want for our lives.  His Kingdom is backwards, out of date, upside down, weird, unacceptable…by those who pursue to prosper in our society…

Downsize…decrease…the junk, the trash, the clutter, the stuff…both physical and spiritual…

So…gonna downsize our visit today…and as we go our separate ways…how about step back and think about downsizing…

Let our sincere prayer be:

 ‘not my will but Thine be done…’

Stop by again…real soon….