John 1:23 --- He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
Vacation is over. California, the ocean, 74 degrees with no humidity, my sunburn, are all behind me now, but all the wonderful memories with my family remain! A new work week has begun and I look forward to the new challenges before me. Our van's transmission light is on, so we're dropping that off to be looked at today, so praying it's not the end of the road for it, but we'll see.
Today after prayer and much coffee, still getting over that California time difference, our adventure in finding and following Jesus continues in the Gospel of John. We pick up right as the religious leaders of the day have come out and confronted John the Baptist. Remember he had been calling for Israel to repent and baptizing prior to Jesus beginning His ministry.
So, John the Baptist is confronted by the Pharisees (John 1:19-22) and asked "Who are you?". John answers them but by saying, "I'm not the Messiah.". He goes on to tell them he is not Isaiah, he is not a prophet. They finally push one more time saying, "Look we gotta answer to the bosses on this, who the heck are you?". Today's verse is John's final response to this.
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’"
There is a ton packed into his reply here as he quotes from the scriptures in Isaiah here with the 'Make straight the way of the Lord' (Isaiah 40:3). In that verse it refers to the coming of the Lord. Here John is simply saying he's just here to turn everyone's attention to Jesus and not himself in anyway.
Where I was led to this morning was, when confronted John the Baptist, did not make it about himself. He clearly did not care to give his credentials or family history here. He redirected to who he wasn't first, then made clear this wasn't about him at all, but about simply calling out for everyone to make the path straight for the Lord was coming.
Most of the time we are OVERLY concerned with who we are, our list of accomplishments, and what others think. John did all he could to remove himself from the equation and let the light fall only upon the Lord and on Jesus the Messiah who was coming. If we'd all focus more on getting out of God's way and redirecting people to Jesus and not ourselves or other people, how much more could be done for His kingdom?
Christian, make sure when the world comes to you, asking who you are, what are you all about, that you make the way straight for Jesus. Don't leave yourself in the middle of the road, so they may look to Him and not you. Make straight the way to Jesus in your life!
I pray your week starts off well. Be the Berean and get into your Bible today. Don't take my word on it, read it, hear it straight from the Lord!
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