Today I am continuing in chapter one of John. People were asking John the Baptizer if he was the Christ or Elijah or a prophet. When his answer was no, they basically said, “well then, who ARE you and what do you have to say about yourself?” I love John’s answer. He said he was the VOICE OF ONE calling in the desert to “make straight the way for the Lord”. So humble. Just a voice. Not a name or a face or a position. A voice. Invisible, but with a purpose – to tell people about and draw them to Jesus.
The two days following, while John was with people, he saw Jesus coming and pointed Him out. “Look, there He is!” He knew that his purpose in life was to show Jesus to others and he was doing that. Not to make himself look better or important or knowledgeable, but just so that people could have the wondrous opportunity to meet and know this Jesus who would change their entire existence.
I want to be like John. I want to be just an invisible voice. To not draw attention to myself, but to Jesus. When I see Him show up in every day life through people or circumstances, when I see Him answer prayer and do amazing things, I want to say, “See? There He is!”
Like I said in yesterday’s post, Jesus was right there in the middle of His own creation and they didn’t recognize Him. John references that again in verse 26 – “among you stands One you do not know.” He got to introduce people to Jesus. What an amazing honor! I want to do that, too.
And as John began introducing people to Jesus, they began to follow Him, literally, as He was walking. When two of John’s friends did this, Jesus turned around and said, “What do you want?” At first glance that seems a bit abrupt, almost rude. But He was asking what they were expecting to receive by following Him. A very good question. Is it just curiosity or do you really want to know Me? Their answer was that they wanted to know where He was staying. They wanted to be where He was going to be. And so He said in v. 39, “Come, and you will see.” Don’t you love that? He invited them in and they spendtthe entire day with Him! Conversation and sharing. Getting to know each other. Becoming friends. Exactly what He invites us in for….How incredible is that????
I want to be a VOICE OF ONE today. I want to show people Jesus. And I want to follow Him, not out of obligation or curiosity, but because I want to know Him more. I want to accept His invitation to come in and spend the day talking and sharing and listening in whatever else I do today. Wanna join me????
