Who Are You? - June 16, 2010

Good Wednesday morning! An interesting question came up in the Bible verse today; a question that each of us has to answer at some point in our lives. Who are you? Some of us are still working to discover that. Who we are is not our job, though a career can be a part of it. Who we are is not our hobbies, though once again that is a part of the answer. Who we are is also not our circumstances; those happen to everyone. The officials in Israel wanted to know what was going on with this wilderness preacher fellow, John the Baptist, and so they sent some dudes out to ask.

This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, "Who are you?" (John 1:19)

We don't get John's answer yet, that will have to wait for tomorrow. The Jewish leaders had a job to do, and one major part of that was to watch for the Messiah. John the Baptist was certainly different. We read in Matthew that he dressed in camel-hair clothes with a leather belt, and ate locusts and wild honey. John didn't drink wine and knew from birth what was right and to avoid what was wrong. John, even without his testimony, would have been considered a holy man, with emphasis on the 'set apart' meaning of holy for sure.

When we read of John's diet and attire, we have a tendency to think 'smelly and dirty', but the Bible never says anything like that. We know from other verses that John spent a lot of time standing in the Jordan baptizing folks; in other words he was probably cleaner than most in both body and spirit. In spite of John's obvious differences, the leaders were not sure about him. And so John still had to answer the question, "Who are you?"

How we answer that question is important to our own testimony. Your answer might be that 30-second testimony that each of us should have polished and ready at all times. Many of us would first try to blurt out our career or current job. Other times we might simply give our name. However, every chance to answer that question is an opportunity to tell the good news that we are saved in Christ Jesus. You want my name? Let me tell you about Jesus!

Uh oh, a wind warning for us today. Try to enjoy the morning before the wind starts blowing!

Bucky