With my post about paying attention still fresh in my mind it just so happened (!) that The One and Only Daughter and I were in John 3:22-30 this evening.

John the Baptist certainly wants people to pay attention to Jesus!

“He must become greater; I must become less”

This is not said with a sigh of resignation, but with the joy of the friend at the bridegroom’s arrival.

Our notes challenged us to think about when we are tempted to put ourselves centre stage – to make ourselves centre of attention – and I couldn’t help but feed this into my earlier thoughts on paying attention to Jesus – see post from 16/3/2016: Wake up and pay attention.

It struck me that it isn’t just lists and life that grab our attention away from Jesus – it is the amount of time and energy and passion we spend  on attending to ourselves. It is our commitment to ensuring that we are getting the attention we so crave. With our affections and thinking so tied up with the business of attending to our personal agenda (no matter how smart and respectable that agenda looks) no wonder we find it hard to pay attention to Jesus.

I read somewhere recently the following statement that has really helped me:

“You matter, but you are not the point. Jesus is the point”.

In just a few words the writer* prevented me both from holding an unbiblically low view of myself AND from making it all about me!

Genius!

*It may have been Scotty Smith in Heavenward via PrayerMate??