12/22/2011

John 1:21-23 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” he said “I am not.” Are you the prophet?” and he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “ I am… ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord.”’ As the prophet Isaiah said.”

God commands us, believers, to be ready in and out of season to give an answer….I am sure that John the Baptist did not have the Pharisees’ questioning on his agenda for the day so he could plan out how he would respond. Yet, in the scripture, I don’t see any hesitation or pondering before John spoke. He knew exactly what he was called to do and who he was in Christ. In verse 19, it really spoke to me about finding my identity in Christ…but it is not just the mindset that it is important but also having an answer for those who want to learn who I am and what is powering my life? John immediately brings these Levites and priests back to scripture moving the focus off of himself and onto God.

I need to not only find my identity in Christ as a mindset but also have an answer in understandable terms for those who desire to know what I am living for and why I am the way I am.

12/23/2011

John 1: 25-26 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.

The phrase, “One among you whom you do not know”, really caught my attention. Christ was among them but the Pharisees and yet they did not know Jesus Christ. I think of how often I can be in a group of people who I know little about even though they are right there beside me. I was thinking through all the years that I have “known” the Lord, and yet there is so little I really do know about Him. A. W. Tozer said you can never fully know the mysteries of God. He is so deep that the more we are in His presence spending time with Him, the more we will know Him. The idea really struck me that when I am reading the Bible, I don’t want to just read it to see what I can get out of it for my life but I want to also read it to know Him fully and  discover all that He desires to reveal to me.