January 19 - The Best Man

John the Baptist’s disciples complain: “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.” This must have seemed very unfair to them. It is clear that they didn’t like it.

John’s reply: “You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less…for he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

It takes a great man to watch someone else’s success erode his own popularity, and be glad for it…but John was certainly a great man. Jesus must become greater and he must become less.

I think that last sentence would be a great plan for a good life. If Jesus becomes greater and greater in our lives, and we become less and less…we would find our lives becoming deeper, better, greater. It is terribly difficult to let go a life of self-promotion, but to do so in order to walk in obedience to the life of Christ is to find a deep and abiding satisfaction. As we stop the attempt to make our lives become greater and greater and simply follow Jesus, we find that our lives become greater in a new and better way.

I know this to be true. At heart I am a competitive and proud man. Too much so. My very best thinking got me into some dreadful periods of life. Now, as I look back on my long history, I am able to see that the times I set self aside to follow Christ most closely have been the best times of my life. This is true, for anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. To believe in him is to walk with him, and to discover that the eternal life he speaks of has already begun. Baby steps, soon to become the leaping bounds of joy!

Prayer: “Dear God of Heaven, I believe you. I trust you. I will follow you. Amen.”