What keeps you going? What is it that makes you not stop doing the
right thing or pushing through to the end?
What makes your motor start, rev up and keep on? I’m talking about your internal motor, the
one that is your heart and drive to live and share life.
There are lots of answers to
this question. Some are good. Some are horrible. Yet your answer is your answer. It is right for you and maybe just for
you. Observe it a little deeper if what
is pressing you on is not about you and not for your glory and serves other
people, then your passion or drive is most likely the strongest in all the
world.
The Gospel of John is truly
from the heart of God. It was penned by
one of the disciples. God changed his
life. One of the things that hits me
through the chapters of the book is how this disciple was puzzled by the God’s
love for Him. He called himself “the
disciple that Jesus loved. I am too. I am puzzled by God’s love for me.
The first chapter of John
introduces us to Jesus and to John the
Baptist. John the Baptist was different.
John was driven. John was convinced. John answered
questions. John realized it wasn't about
him. Over and over he demonstrated the fact that God’s purpose surrounds
the life we know here on earth.
We, like John, must realize
that life it is not about us. He was
confronted by the religious leaders of the day because what he did and how
confident he was made people think he might be the Messiah or a prophet come
back to life. John said many times that
he was simply pointing the way to Jesus.
John was an pointing light.
Luke 1:16-17 NLT
And he will turn many Israelites to the
Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and
power of Elijah. He will prepare the
people for the coming of the Lord. He
will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those
who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”
That’s what John the
Baptist’s father was told before his son was born. What John knew was that he was to point to
Jesus all the time and not point to himself.
Matthew 5:16 NLT
In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that
everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
2 Corinthians
4:6 NASB
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to
give the Light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
John knew his purpose as we
can know our purpose. His was to point
people to Jesus. I define an pointing
light as something that is intentionally set on a target and to draw attention
to what it was pointed at. John
understood that was his purpose. He was
to point people to Jesus.
The Bible tells us that John
the Baptist was a different find of guy.
He was weird. He stayed out in
the wilderness. He ate bugs and things
like locust. He dressed differently. All the while John was confident in what he
did and what he shared. John wasn’t
ashamed.
Romans 1:16 NLT
For I am not ashamed of this
Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who
believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.
I pray that we will learn to
not be ashamed and to be pointing lights directing people toward Jesus with all
that we are, all that we say and all that we do.
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