Elevating God = Demoting Self

John 3:30-" He must increase, but I must decrease."

        The elevation of God in our lives can only be achieved by the decreasing of another thing. God can not be held higher if something is not lowered.  In the dictionary, "elevated" means- to be raised to a more important or impressive level. It's not simply slightly higher than the rest, it's noticeably and distinctively higher. We seem to think that wearing christian t-shirts, listening to christian music, avoiding sin, going to church on Sunday, and being nice to our neighbors is putting God first. Frankly, that's not putting Him first. It's putting him as a priority but not the priority.

       God should be bigger than just someone we advertise. He should take up more of our time then just attending church (and some even go only when it's convenient with their schedule). God should be reverenced more. The norm of Christianity today is nothing more than advertising our God as a guardian angel and peace keeper. He's advertised as being our home boy, being lit, our rock star, and our homie. Instead of being reverenced we shrink Him down to our level. God is far more important and holy than anything we could imagine. It breaks my heart how His glorious name has been shrunk to such a low level. God deserves more-He deserves reverence. He deserves to be elevated above the trends and fads of our day.

Instead of living a life dedicated to Christ we just dedicate our social media accounts to Him. 

We've replaced winning souls with wearing christian t-shirts. 

We've replaced sacred worship with rock concerts. 

GOD IS NOT ELEVATED. HE IS NOT FIRST.

How do we fix this reverence crisis? How can we elevate God higher than any other? Why does it seem so hard to reverence Him like we should?
It's simple.

Just a simple equation we so often miss...

GOD>ME
God is greater than me.

       We say it so often. We think we believe it but yet we so often do not live it. God is greater. He IS. Whether we live for His glory or not, He will always be greater. But how foolish of us to realize His greatness and yet we still do not raise Him to that level of greatness in our lives. In order for us to elevate God higher than anything- we must shrink ourselves to nothing. 

When we decrease ourselves we decrease our distractions. 

We decrease our selfishness.

We decrease our sin. 

We decrease our pride.

When we isolate ourselves from our fleshly desires we will then be able to elevate God. 

      How high is God in your life today? Is He higher than you? Is He higher than your spouse or boy/girl friend? Is He higher than your children? Your job? Your comfort zone? We must learn to isolate ourselves from this world. 

We must learn to make God's desires our desires. 

  We live in such a self-centered world.  A world that yearns for attention, yearns for happiness, yearns to be comfortable. 

Elevating God is not comfortable.

 It is hard. 

It is humbling. 

It is worship in its truest form. 

    The reason so many Christians don't elevate God like they should is because its hard. Dying to self is painful. Uncomfortable. Yet John realized how vitally important it is. God's glory needs to be manifested through His people. We are failing God-I am failing God. We put ourselves on the throne of our lives. We act like sitting through a church service is real sacrifice. We assume that being moral in a heathen world is sacrifice. We're wrong. Our supposed sacrifices for the Lord are marbles compared to the mountains He's crossed for us. We do not exalt Him like we should. 

How empty life is without God. Yet He can not live through us unless we die to self.

Remove yourself from the throne of your life. Let God take control. True freedom can only be found in a heart completely surrendered to God. When we die to self that's when true life begins.

Blessings,

Brittney Dods