J'Accuse

I Accuse . . . .

There is a famous letter by the French writer Émile Zola which starts with the phrase “J’accuse”, meaning, oddly enough, “I accuse”. Just by way of interest, he was accusing the then French government of anti-Semitism, amongst other things – a charge which could be brought against most world governments today too, but that’s beside the point.

It is my turn to point the accusers finger today, and I choose to point it at ME – probably amongst many others.

John 3:30 says this, “He must become greater; I must become less.” This speaks to me of grain falling to the ground and dying. Eventually, the grain will resurrect as fresh young plants which will eventually produce a lot more grain. This is the analogy Jesus used to indicate our walk with Him – to die to self and to live to Him. In our old state we couldn’t possibly produce anything but like wheat, if we die and go into the ground, then we are born again and can only then produce a harvest. So it is that if we do manage to die to self and live to Him, then and only then will we be able to produce a harvest for His Kingdom.

So what is it that stops me from producing all I could produce? What is it that stops me growing less so that He might become greater? I don’t know about you, but I have never really got over the excitement of seeing my own name in print. I enjoy the attention. I enjoy my fleeting moments of fame. In one very short word, that is pride working at its worst. Don’t get me wrong, there is little wrong with enjoying public speaking or public approval of one’s writing. It can be very encouraging. But the enjoyment turns to pride if we are not very careful indeed. I, for one, hold my hand up and admit that, there are times when I love the attention and the ‘encouragement’ a bit too much and that is when I become proud. That’s when my Saviour takes 2^nd place – and the Word of God says that He shares His Glory with no-one.

So, I’m not going to beat myself up too much and nor should you. We simply need to keep everything in context – everything in its place. It’s when the criticism hurts that I realise I am letting pride into my heart. It’s when I puff up a bit at the compliments that I need my wife’s little “Big head” comments. I want nothing more than for Him to become greater and for me to become less – invisible would be perfect actually as then, when I speak or write, people will only see Jesus. OK, that may never happen, but for people to see even a glimpse of Jesus would be better than now methinks.

Do I hear an “AMEN” to that?