John 1

The incidents described John 1:29-42 occur after Jesus has been baptized. It is part of our glimpse into what is next for Christ. I think if we take a closer look at it, we can also learn part of the answer to the question in our lives. In other words, I have been claimed by God; what’s next? What can we learn about discipleship from this passage?

Take a look at the actions of John the Baptist. John is not interested in bringing glory to himself. All of his actions and his words point to Jesus. He points to Jesus and says, “here is the lamb of God.” He ranks Christ above himself, and he explains that he is convinced that Christ is the son of God. Not only that, but he sends his own disciples to follow Jesus. John had to have known that to send these disciples to Christ meant that they would no longer be following him, but John did it anyway. There is a bestselling book by Rick Warren called The Purpose Driven Life. The first line of the book is “It’s not about you.” John teaches us that discipleship is focused on God; it’s not about us. That can be a difficult step to take, but it’s necessary to understand what it means to follow God – to be a disciple of Christ.

Continued tomorrow.....