January 19
Bible Reading: John 3:30-36
John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John the Baptist’s ministry was distinct from that of the religious leaders of his day. They loved to garner attention to themselves, but John the Baptist’s ministry was all about making much of Jesus.
John was a man “sent from God” (John 1:6). “He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through Him, He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light” (John 1:7-8). Despite his unorthodox approach, he had a huge following. “Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan” (Matthew 3:5).
In bearing “witness to the light” he was always directing people to Jesus (not to himself). When the religious leaders sent men to asked, “Who are you?” he replied, “I am not the Christ” (John 1:19-20). When they asked again, he affirmed his God-given role as a “voice crying in the wilderness (to) make straight the way of the Lord” (John 1:22-23; Isaiah 40:3). He spoke of the One who would come after him “whose sandal (he) was not worthy to untie” (John 1:27). He came to make much of the Christ, not of himself. We do well to follow his example. D. L. Moody once said that “the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing.” Making much of Jesus and His gospel is the main thing.
LeRoy was a good friend and a devoted member of our church family. He’d spent his life serving Jesus in many places and ways. We’d meet once a month for lunch, and he’d share with me about his latest witnessing escapades. A long-time Gideon, he’d love to venture off on his motorized wheelchair to the boardwalk in Seaside to hand out New Testaments and tell people about Jesus. LeRoy was 97 and his health was in decline. He wanted to meet with me. So, I made the trip to Seaside and visited with him. He made something very clear to me, as he knew he was soon to die. “When you do my funeral,” he said, “Don’t be saying a bunch of stuff about me or anything I’ve done, talk about Jesus, share the gospel.” In life and death, it was LeRoy’s intent to make much of Jesus. Just like John the Baptist. Just like we, as “ambassadors for Christ,” are all to do. Prayerfully consider this question: “Is it my heart’s desire to make much of Jesus in both my walk and witness?”
Make these words from the hymn your prayer today: “May His beauty rest upon me as I seek the lost to win, and may they forget the channel, seeing only Him” (May the Mind of Christ, My Savior).
“Let your earnest desire be that Christ might be magnified in your body, whether by life or by death, or by your job from 8:00 to 5:00.” – John Piper
MAY JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED
When morning gilds the sky,
our hearts awaking cry:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
in all our work and prayer
we ask his loving care:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
To God, the Word on high,
the hosts of angels cry:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals too upraise
their voices in hymns of praise:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth’s wide circle round
in joyful notes resound:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let air and sea and sky
from depth to height reply:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this, when day is past,
of all our thoughts the last:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The night becomes as day
when from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Then let us join to sing
to Christ, our loving King:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this the eternal song
through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
LookingtoJesus 