“You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. (Luke 3:7-8)
His name was John.
His birth was the stuff of folklore. His Mum was never supposed to have children. His Dad was too old as well. Before he came out of his Mum’s womb, he was already causing as stir. His very name was the reason for a whole heap of amazing words to be pronounced about what he would do.
30 years later he was developing quite the reputation. His wardrobe was already distinct, but it was what he was announcing all around the Jordan River that made him so stark and outstanding. He clearly didn’t care about whose feathers he ruffled in getting people to take righteousness seriously. Even to the point of being a threat to authority to the point of speaking out once too often and sealing his fate.
Was he the guy the people had been waiting for? Could he be the hope that a people were longing for?
His appeal reached to various professions and challenged them as to the way they should live. He was announcing good news, but that news came with warnings too. There was conviction in his pronouncements. You sensed he was not making demands on others unless he was willing to live up to them.
It wasn’t just talk, it was setting the stage with clear opportunities to turn away from a life heading for disaster, to a life heading towards salvation itself. This was a whole new Promised Land. Someone was about to hit the scene in a major way and John was the warm up act.
The main event has been and gone and in so doing there is the promise of a return of the main event. In advance for that return we get the opportunity to prepare the way for people to experience the main act for themselves. We can be the warm up act by our stance for what’s right, by calling out wrong for what it is and not cosying up to compromise because it’s the norm of life.
We are not the main event. In what we do, though, we can get people to think again about a main event worth watching. A headline act worth the wait.
(Photo by Oliver Sjöström on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 