I was just reading this morning about John’s words that he wasn’t worthy to loosen Jesus’ sandal. This floors me when I consider that he was willing to eat bugs with honey and live alone in the desert to preach a straightforward message about the judgment of God and His Lamb. If there was someone ‘worthy’ who gave up every luxury in order to obey the Lord’s call, it was John the Baptist.
Who am I, and what have I given for Jesus that compares? Nothing. So… could I be found worthy to do a simple slave task for Jesus? Would I qualify to serve Him so to speak? No. No one can, so here’s the encouraging part: Jesus doesn’t hold out his foot and have John loosen it, but totally blows John away and has him baptize Jesus instead! What in the world? How John must have tripped out on Jesus and the Father that day at his love and grace (undeserved blessing)! And the blessing didn’t come with a ‘alright John, your time in the desert is over’, or, ‘now let’s get you fed on some real food’, but the blessing came in God allowing John to serve His Son Jesus. The greatest blessing is to be chosen. So are we. We don’t deserve it, we don’t fill out a resume complete with a list of everything we’ve sacrificed for Him, in order for Him to choose us, etc. He just lifts our chin from His holy foot and invites us to participate in much greater ways than loosening his sandal. We get to be His hands and feet and serve Him and our neighbor!
May this remind you that we are most blessed when we realize that the greatest blessing there is in life is to be chosen by the Father. This perspective makes involvement in a ministry a privilege and not a burden. We have been saved by faith, and that not of ourselves. So it is with our ministries…
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