If I want to be full, open to receiving abundant grace—more human, selfless—first I must be emptied. He must increase, and I must decrease (John 3:30 ESV). The word I discovered is kenōsis. Oh, it’s not that I never heard the word. On the contrary, I’m quite familiar with the idea. But it’s one thing to define it and discuss it in a detached sort of way—to keep it at a safe distance. It’s another thing altogether when God calls us to put it into practice. And he always calls us to put it into practice.

Adapted from The Way Up is Down by Marlena Graves. Copyright (c) 2020 by Marlena Graves. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com