John the Baptist and You
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: John the Baptist and You ------------------- Date: 9/13/2002
Keywords:
"adrift" "bias" "drift" "John the Baptist" "prejudice" "repent"
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Passage: Mark 1:4-8*
4. John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6. John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.
7. And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.
8. "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Questions
1. What is your batting average for guessing the content of a package by how it was wrapped?
2. How difficult is it for you to overcome your initial biases when attempting to understand another person’s point of view?
Practical help
He was definitely unusual. Not like your average Sunday School teacher or a frumpy college professor you fondly remember. No, this guy was down-right strange! Yet he got the people’s attention. More than that, he made them think. Have you ever been stunned by someone? Have you ever met someone who was almost your opposite, yet he or she had that compelling intensity that caused people to listen carefully to their words, taking them absolutely seriously? Or do you have a problem with prejudice? When people aren’t mostly like you are, is it hard for you to pay attention to what they are saying?
Sometimes, the reason we do what we do (like surfing the Wed to sites we know aren’t good for us) is because our life is like a boat that has lost its tether and is slowly drifting out to sea. If that describes how you feel today, sort of blah or hopeless, I hope you picture John the Baptist looking you straight in the eye. Can you see his expression as he stares at you? "Wake up!" he shouts.
If you can stop looking at his piercing eyes a moment, the next obvious thing you notice is his hair. It’s the longest, scraggliest stuff you have ever seen. Then when you can take your eyes off the hair, the next thing that grabs you are his strong bare arms and legs sticking out of what at first looks like a hairy gunny sack strapped in the middle by a huge leather belt. There is nothing about this guy that can remotely be described as "refined" or "normal." (There he goes again, putting another live grasshopper in his mouth.) Oh, oh, his eyes are locked on you again…and now he begins to speak.
"Wait until you see the One I am here to announce!" John shouts to you. "Get ready! Get washed up! Not your outsides, but your heart! You have been doing things you know are wrong! Get over what you think about me, I’m not your problem! Other people aren’t your problem either! It’s time to stop drifting and take a hard look at your own life! I’m just here to get your attention! (And frankly, I’ve succeeded, otherwise, why did you come out from your comfortable town with all the others to see me?) After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you [people] with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
If you are at the point where you see your awful condition as it really is — so much so, in fact, that you have stopped looking down your nose at others — then you are ready. For what, you ask? For your life to take on new meaning and be turned up-side-down… and for tomorrow’s study, when we see Jesus heal a man.
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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright
The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by
permission."
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