Our assignment is like that of John the Baptist. We are not to draw attention to ourselves but to Jesus who works in and through us. We are not the ones who change people’s lives. Jesus alone does that by his Spirit. Be very clear on this. We prepare the way for Jesus to work in people’s lives. John was sent to call people to repentance. That simply means that he called people to come back to God rather than walking away from God. John’s message may seem harsh but that was because he was speaking to the Jews who prided themselves in being the exclusive people of God. The irony was that their complacency would cause them to miss the coming of their Messiah, so John was sent to wake them up with some harsh words. To prepare the way for Jesus to come into the lives of non-believers we must, initially, simply turn their attention to the fact that God is calling them to himself. It is now possible, because of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross, for anyone to come, and God wants everyone to live in relationship with him. No matter how we have failed, the call of the father sounds to us: just come home! And the call of God wants to be expressed through us. He wants us to exercise the ministry of John, preparing the way for Jesus to take hold of people’s lives. Don’t try to change people. Just represent God’s call of love and grace and let Jesus do the rest.
Pray for people you know and love, that they might know God and Christ.
Read Luke 3:1-20
