Obscurity

John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease.
 
Everybody wants to be somebody. Everybody wants their name to be remembered. It’s part of being human. However, this desire can sometimes run contrary to accomplishing the work of God. In the verse above, the more recognition that John the Baptist received, the more he reminded people it was about the One to come (Jesus) and not about him. The goal of John’s ministry was to point people to the One, not to point people to himself. Jesus modeled this too. In John 6, He withdrew when the people wanted to crown Him as king. He knew it wasn’t his time yet. While on earth, Jesus never fought for notoriety, He fought for obscurity. Obscurity is the state of being unknown or unimportant. The more people wanted to crown Jesus and give him credit, He deflected it to His Father. In that season, Jesus knew that his Father was the one to be glorified. Obscurity is the road less traveled, but it’s often where God does the most work. Jesus was born in obscurity. Think about that for a minute, God Himself in the flesh, born into complete obscurity on the outskirts of town. 
 
The biggest deterrent to any movement of God is when the person or people leading it think they are more important than the Source of the movement (God). The road to success in God's Kingdom is littered with those who thought it was about them and not God. The world they were trying to impress and the praise they were seeking ultimately devoured them. My best ministry successes have been marked by times where no one even knew who I was. Others get recognized, God gets the credit, and I get in my truck and ride off in obscurity. I would be lying if I said this didn’t frustrate me at times. But this is the way it should be. A good ambassador of God’s Kingdom should be like a good referee or umpire. If they do a good job, no one knows who they are. Jesus fought for obscurity, we should too. Whose credit is it? Ours or His? We know the answer to that question. After all, a kingdom worker’s reward is ultimately on the other side of eternity.
 
Luke 10:20
However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.