Luke 1

Scripture

Luke 1: 76-79

And you, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

 

Observation

A lot goes down in Luke chapter one. So here’s the nice condensed version:

• The birth of John is predicted, and his father loses his speech because he can’t believe it
• The birth of Jesus is predicted (no one loses their speech or virginity there)
• Mary visits the mother of John, Elizabeth is is far along in her pregnancy
• Mary gets so excited that she sings a song of adoration
• John is born, is almost not named John, but then is (his father, Zechariah gets his speech back)
• Zechariah prophesies over his son, and pretty much gets it all right

 

Understanding

I think it is fair to argue that John has some pretty big shoes to fill. For starters, his parents are pretty well-known in his community so he has to live up to the family name. If that isn’t stressful enough he also has to pave the way for the literal Son of God… no biggie, right? Wrong! If I were John I’m not sure I would know how to cope or deal with the mounting expectation placed on me. But here’s the honest truth: if we are called followers of Christ, we have this same mounting expectation of us.

I know what you’re thinking, “Wait what? I wasn’t born to usher Jesus into the earth. My sole purpose is not to baptize Jesus either…” You may have not been born for those sole purposes, but the moment you gave God the right to tell you what to do, you offered your life as an embodiment of ushering Jesus in. I know that doesn’t make much sense either, let me explain:

My job as a Christ-follower is to bring Jesus to others. I am to usher in the Presence of God wherever I go. There’s no question of whether God is with us, He’s with us the moment that we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. The question is whether or not we’ve created an environment for Him to move in the lives of others. In other words, we are tasked with the same mission that John the Baptist was given when He was born. Daunting, but also an extreme honor to carry.

 

Life Application

So I know I just made all of that sound extremely unattainable and scary, but I promise it isn’t. In order to make room for God to move, we must make time to understand His heart. That means getting familiar with His ways through His word and through prayer. It means actually spending time with people who could use a move of God. It means making yourself available to be used by Him. It means actually knowing Him. A simple start, but it leads to powerful encounters. Let’s be the reason that someone experiences the Presence of God.

-Allison Khan