(John the Baptist, from the Action Bible by Sergio Cariello)
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John the Baptizer, a prophet of the Lord. He is most commonly known for the many baptisms he did at the Jordan River, one of which was baptizing our Lord Jesus Christ, even though he protested saying:
I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me? Jesus answered, “Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”
So he baptized Jesus. John was also known to be the man that said “prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.” To put it simply in all of John’s preaching I believe he was simply pointing towards what the Risen Christ would be and do for all time. John is one of my favorite prophets in the bible for this reason alone because I believe that most disciples do that the biggest accomplishment I can achieve in life is by effectively living my life in such a way that people are pointed to Christ.
To put it simply: “It’s not about us. It’s just not.”
I praise God everyday that it’s not about us, but about Him and everything that He has done for the world, and when we commit to live our lives for Him and his love and grace we actively commit to not point to ourselves and what we have done, but point directly to the Risen Christ for not just what He did, but for what He continues to do everyday that we are on this earth!
So I ask you to take a moment sometime today and think about what your life would be like if Christ had not died for you and me. What would our life look like? Take this moment to be thankful for all the blessings that God rains down upon us, but at the same time think about the many ways that we can point to Christ and why that matters to the world.
Father God,
Rain your love down upon us and help the world to see your Son through your disciples in the world. May they see you and your love and grace and not ourselves. In Jesus’ Name.
Amen.