Monday, September 18, 2006

Gettin' Right to the Point

It is amazing that only one chapter into the book of John, the author is already hitting it hard and we already have a promise of salvation. For those of you on this journey through the book of John with me, we are going to have a ton to wrestle with in the next 3 weeks. I can't wait!!

It is interesting the language used of Jesus in the first paragraph. In verse 4 we see that Jesus was an integral part of the creation process. I had always known this, but the phrase "In him WAS life" really caught my attention this time through the passage. Further into John we will get the promise that Jesus IS the life (14:6). It seems that the only reason Jesus can BE the life is that he has always BEEN the life. How uplifting it is to know that the one who is providing us life on a daily basis was the author of life and has been providing life everyday since. I think he probably knows what he is doing. In the book of Hebrews we get this image of Jesus as the great high priest, the one speaking to God on our behalf. How amazing to know that our mediator was "in the beginning" and "became flesh and dwelt among us."

As I continued to read, I was struck by the level of humility in John the Baptist. Often people in ministry can get a big head and think that the ministry is all about them. John showed no signs of this whatsoever. In biblical times the majority of roads were simple trails that were not well maintained. When a king would come to a region, though, the roads were smoothed and straightened out for the one to come. John humbles himself by saying that his purpose is only to prepare the way for the coming King, Jesus. John goes on to say that he is not even fit to untie the sandals of the coming Messiah. To untie someone's sandals was the work of a slave, so John is saying that he is not even worthy of being Jesus' slave.

John understood that being a disciple of Jesus was not about himself, but was about getting out of the way so that Jesus could be seen more clearly. Often we simply get in the way of the work Jesus is trying to do. We try to look too cool or look like we know all the answers or look like we are in charge, while Jesus is put on the backburner. May we be people who could care less about ourselves so others would care more about our Savior. May we be people that prepare the way for Jesus and then get out of the way so He can do His work in people's lives.