Pointing others to Jesus
So John said to all of them, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He has his winnowing shovel with him, to thresh out all the grain and gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn the chaff in a fire that never goes out.’ (verses 16,17)
Read Luke 3:15-22
On another occasion John the Baptist put it this way, ‘He must become more important while I become less important’ (John 3:30). John knew what God wanted him to do. He was to be a voice that cried out, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a road for the LORD!’ (Isaiah 40:3). It made him happy to tell others that the one who would come would be much greater than he was. His one desire was to point others to Christ, and he did this; it was his mission. ‘Here is the Lamb of God’ (John 1:29).
There is no greater service that you can offer your Saviour than to do just that – point others to him. We need to take the focus off ourselves and put it on Christ. He deserves all the praise and glory. That’s why your role as one of his witnesses will always echo what John says: ‘I am not good enough even to untie his sandals’. This is the mark of a true and faithful servant.
Lord Jesus, put into my heart the desire to point others away from myself so that they can see you, for you alone can save. Amen.
by Len Tscharke, in ‘God’s Peace for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2006)
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