DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

" 'And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins' " (Luke 1:76-77).

The story of the birth of John the Baptist is a marvelous record of God's divine working in the lives of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Luke began his historical account in this book with the announcement of an angel to Zacharias that they would have a son, despite the fact that they were old and past child-bearing age. The angel said that this baby, whom they were to name John, would prepare the hearts of the people for the coming Messiah. Because Zacharias did not believe the angel, he lost his voice and was mute until the birth of the baby.

We are not John the Baptist and we do not have his calling. Yet, we still have the privilege of preparing the way of the Lord. We prepare the way for His coming into the lives of people around us by the lives we live and the words we say.

It's like ground that needs to be prepared to receive the seed. We can till the soil, we can plant the seed, we can water the land. That is what the Apostle Paul said: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building" (I Corinthians 3:6-9). The KJV translates vs 9, "We are laborers together with God." Like farmers, we get to soften the soil, plant some seed, and water the ground. But it is God who saves people. We can only help prepare the way for God's work.

John the Baptist had a special calling, but he recognized that he was nothing in light of the One who was to come. John himself said, "He must increase and I must decrease" (John 3:30). We do not prepare people to accept us but to receive the Lord Jesus. May my life magnify Jesus in the eyes of people around me, and may I decrease as I present Him to others. In this way, I can prepare the way of the Lord.

Love, Dad