A Voice

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

A VOICE

John 1:19-23

19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"  

NIV

Pride is the downfall of many, in fact the scripture says that pride comes before the fall.

 Prov 16:18 18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

NIV

It is clear, John the Baptist did not have any pride, and he quickly admits he is not the Christ. It might have been easy enough to claim he was special, maybe even the Christ. Wouldn’t that have been something, maybe the Jews would have accepted him as the Messiah and everything would have been different, except of course what was needed for the salvation of mankind. Nevertheless, John quickly confessed he was not the Christ. Well, then who are you? Obviously John the Baptist was a very unusual man. He was not like any of the other Jews, his garments were different, his diet was strange, and he kept to himself, not venturing into the cities, but staying in the open area, the wilderness as it were. How did he garner a crowd? Perhaps he did position himself along a common crossing area of the Jordon, along a trade route or path that lead up to Jerusalem. The fact is, he did attract a crowd and a reputation. So these Jews of Jerusalem sent priest and Levites to question him as to who he really was. Was he the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet? No, No and No was his answer. John was not prideful as to who he was, it was just his calling to be a voice of one calling in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord”. How easy it is for us to get caught up in some sort of pride of our position in life, in the community, in the church. We have given ourselves titles, or at least found enough titles in the Bible to apply to ourselves. “I am a deacon”, “I am an elder”, “Oh, I am on the board”. How many types of pastors can we come up with, a children’s pastor, youth pastor, college and career pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, lead or senior pastor, administrative pastor, and whatever other type someone can image. Then we have the sound specialist, the lighting specialist and oh right the music pastor, the choir director, Christian education pastor. Titles and more titles. Do they give us a reason to be prideful? Could we not just say we are nothing more than a voice in the wilderness, calling out “Make straight the way of the Lord”? Just a voice, nothing special, nobody special. Some even make it a point to declare they are a child of God, I am special, I am a Christian. But are we better off just saying we are but a voice in the wilderness? Should we not position ourselves somewhere the people are passing by so we can call out to them, “Make straight the way for the Lord”? That is kind of difficult if we are always stuck inside our church building. Sure we should gather together so we can encourage one another, and worship together, but our calling is to be a voice in the wilderness. Jesus said to go out into the world, into the wilderness and preach the good news. So let us be just a voice.