“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30
Insight
John the Baptist is a remarkable New Testament character.
Think about his story. Conceived miraculously, his mother was
too old to bear children. Named by an angel. Met his cousin,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, before he was even born. He lived
a strange lifestyle with peculiar eating habits. Indeed, a most
unusual human being.
Known as the “baptizer”, he said he was here to prepare
the way for the Messiah. John was getting people cleaned up
and ready to meet the Savior of the world. And then, the most
remarkable privilege anyone could imagine – he baptized the
Messiah Himself, Jesus Christ.
Even then, he did not seek fame or privilege, but insisted that
he was to become less, and the Lord should increase. He was not
even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. He said he baptized only with
water, but that the Lord would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
And finally, after a miraculous life lived to prepare the way for
the coming Messiah – John was in doubt! He asked, “Are you the
one, or should we expect another?” John was saying, “They are
preparing to kill me, cousin. Just checking – are You really the Messiah, because if you are not, I am about to die for nothing.”
Jesus reassured him, “Look at the signs, John. I am who I said I
was, and you can know that your life was not in vain.”
You and I can take much encouragement from John’s life. We serve to
bring others to the Savior. We have moments of doubt, pain, suffering
and failure. But He is who He said He was – “The Lamb of God, who
takes away the sins of the world.”
Prayer
Father, we give thanks for your Son, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sins of the world. We pray this day for salvation
and deliverance and healing to come to the one who will be
placed into the highest office in our land, the President of the
United States of America. We ask that he/she will live a servant-hearted life allowing Jesus Christ to become greater within
them and that he/she become less. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
