Zack Blair

An encounter with God’s love will cause us to live life in humility

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ…I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord…’” (John 1:19-23)

The Bible clearly portrays (against tradition) that John the Baptist looked nothing like the above picture. He was hairy, known to eat locusts and wild honey, and to dress in camel-haired clothes. (Ironically, as my sister and I were shopping in small shops along the coast of California–Big Sur to be exact–we met several women who fit this description perfectly… I’m not lying. They could totally pull off a reenactment of John’s life and we would never know they were actresses…) My point is that when John walked in from the wilderness, people spotted him. Humility is not people passing you by. Humility is a life pointing to God.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Before Jesus entered into his public ministry, we see John baptize him; the Glory of God appeared in the form of a dove, descended on Jesus, and a voice from heaven shouted, “This is my Son in whom I’m well pleased.” Talk about accomplishment! Yet when we see John’s followers leaving to follow Jesus, there was no grumble. He first pointed everything he had back to God, and then he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

True humility is recognizing that apart from God, we have nothing. The Bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble… If I want to be used by God, then I have to remain humble, teachable, and with my life, point everything back to him.

He must increase. We must decrease. An encounter with God’s love will cause us to live life in humility.