Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Challenge
- Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are. He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.
When
I think of John the Baptizer, I think of challenge. Just look at all the ways that he
teaches. In the theological commentary
linked to above, I give the following breakdown:
- John taught community: Share your tunics.
- John taught honesty: Don’t rip people off.
- John taught contentedness: Do an honest job and accept an honest pay for it.
- John taught humility: There is one for whom I am not worthy to even stoop at his feet.
- John taught truth: Be careful, the winnowing fork is in His hand to gather up the wheat and sort out the chaff.
John
didn’t teach a feel-good-religion. It is not human nature to share, or to
be content with a certain wage when other people are getting more through
dishonest means, or to do an honest job when a few shortcuts could save some time
and money, or to humble oneself when there is no personal gain, or even to
change just because we might be chaff in some unseen God’s eyes! John pushed the people around him into a place
of discomfort. John tried to get them to
see their lifestyle as being in conflict with what God really wanted from them.
John
also tried to prepare them for Jesus. He
knew that if Israel was a spiritual wilderness, then they would miss the coming
of Christ completely. He didn’t want
that for his people. So he tries to
prepare them. But even in that,
preparing people for change is inherently a task in which challenge rises to
the top.
So
what do you think about John the Baptizer?
What do you think about his version of challenge? Do you agree with him? Is life lived better when we give up our human
desires and instead seek godly desires?
Are you willing to push ahead with that?
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