Above all powers, Above all kings, Above all nature and all created things, Above all wisdom and all the ways of man, You were here before the world began
Finally, I found the lyrics for this song by Michael W. Smith. “Above all else” kept on repeating itself in my mind, but I couldn’t find the song I wanted. I found others, but they weren’t what I was looking for. This is what happens when you are constantly making up your own lyrics and tunes to songs. It resulted in me looking for the wrong song because I added a simple word that shouldn’t be there. Many of us get out of tune with the Master Composer’s composition for our lives when we add our own lyrics and melody creating disharmony with our Creator as we forget He is above all wisdom and all the ways of man.
He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. John 3:30-31
The problem comes when we are doing everything to increase. Unfortunately, this is a part of human nature. There are even those of us who will boast of our humility. Oh, what a paradox! We call attention to our humility and others of us puff ourselves up in pride because of the gifts that God has given us not remembering we should be giving Him, the gift-giver, the glory. Paul the Apostle was very careful about not attracting people to Himself, knowing He should be pointing them to God.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
There are so many preachers these days who are quite eloquent and dramatic as they use worldly methods to attract people to themselves. Sorry, I meant Christ. No, no actually I did mean to themselves, because in the middle of the theatrics somehow, I forget that Christ is to be exalted. Please don’t misunderstand me. I like a good sermon illustration to help me get the point of the message. An impactful illustration helps me to remember the word given in the sermon and its application in my life. But I am easily distracted by all the drama, and I may lose focus of God who is above all else. We must be very careful not to look at the wisdom of man but be guided by the power of God and give Him all glory who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (See Ephesians 3:20).
We must be careful not to take the attention from Jesus and put it on ourselves. The enemy always wants to diminish Christ in our lives, and he can be very subtle in doing so. For example, we might want to help someone, but in our succour, people may suffer because they start depending on us instead of God. So, it is important to ask God how to assist others and let Him guide us. In the book of Ezekiel, we learn that God punished Egypt because Israel put its confidence in the nation. God wants people to trust Him. Therefore, we must ensure that we are pointing people to Him and away from ourselves like John the Baptist did.
Even more importantly, when John says, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” he is modelling for us how to exalt God and humble ourselves before God. This is obviously an important characteristic in God’s sight. God opposes the proud but gives grace to those who are humble (James 4:6). When we get out of the way and let God accomplish what He intends, then much is accomplished. On the other hand, when we step in and try to help God along, we may find ourselves actually working against what God desires to do.
This excerpt is taken from GotQuestions.org. And it makes it quite clear that we should step out of God’s way and let Him do His work. We may think we are doing His work by helping, but rather we are causing great problems instead, so it is important to seek His guidance at all times and make sure that in every decision, we are putting Him above all.
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