Recently I was at a gathering of church leaders, preparing for a special presentation about Christian education. These words spoken to God in the opening prayer captured my attention and my heart: “Keep us from anything that is self-promoting.”

Self-promotion is about as ugly as sin gets. The ugliness is magnified, in my opinion, when church leaders are involved.

As I have pondered the ugliness and the sinfulness of self-promotion in the days since the gathering, a Bible passage and some lyrics keep coming to mind.

The passage? John 3:30, where John is speaking of Jesus.

• NIV “He must become greater; I must become less.”
• NLT “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
• MSG “This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.”

The lyrics? The song “Disappear” written and recorded by Out of the Grey. Below is a YouTube video that includes both the song and the lyrics.