The Diminished Life = The Furtherance of The Gospel
John Chapter One Verses Six Through Thirty Six:
This section speaks into the life of John the Baptist. This is not John the Beloved. Rather, John the Beloved and writer of the gospel is now introducing the forerunner of Christ. John starts his discussion of John the Baptist by letting us know that, “There was a man sent by God…”
The Man Sent By God:
All of my adult life, I have wanted to be, ‘the man sent by God’. The majority of my adult life has been a series of collisions from not seeing God send me to serve. And the tidal wave of disappointments and missed-steps from me attempting to pre-empt the movement of God.
John the Baptist was sent by God. This sending took the form of divine appointment. Say what you will: when God selects and sends his ‘man’, or, ‘woman’, the will of God blossoms forth. John had a very specific message set. Let’s examine in some detail what it is that John the Baptist set out to communicate and accomplish.
Urban Wilderness Voices Cry Out:
John wore camel hair breeches and ate honey from the honeycomb. John looked more like a Hindu Sandhu than an evangelical preacher. John looked and acted the part of the wandering-but far from lost or undone-itinerant.
It appears to me that the further away from John and his moment in history we as a culture get, the more we lose the true nature of his identity. For John the Baptist was a vocal and official ‘pointer’. His mission was very simple: diminish his own life and credentials and point people solely to Jesus Christ.
We live in Urban Wildernesses now. If we encounter a person dressed like John the Baptist we flee for our very lives-imagining this person to be mentally deranged and possibly dangerous. But what if…what if…God is calling us to be ‘Professional Pointers’ in this hour?
What if…what if….God is calling us to don Armani Suits and Prada Dresses and wonder about-far from aimlessly-in these urban wildernesses where we reside and have one simple mission: Diminish Our Own Selves and Point People to Christ?
The Simple Message:
The Simple Message: I am not the Light. Jesus Christ is the Light. Come to Christ and He will illuminate your life and bring hope and peace to the darkest of your days.
There seems to be a life equation here:
God Sends People + Those ‘sent’ diminish their own accomplishments and credentials + Point people to Jesus Christ = The True Light of The World Illuminates Souls and Redeems Wrecked Lives.
Standing Amazed in His Presence…
Dr. Steve Bonenberger
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