The Old Baptizer

Even as the first week of Advent has us looking into the heavens for that image of Jesus returning in the clouds, so does the second week of the season bring us down to earth with a thud.  After such lofty contemplation, John the Baptist walks into the picture.  The Baptizer is always such a surprise when he shows us to spew his message about getting ready for Jesus.  He pulls no punches.  Those he saw as a brood of vipers, he called a brood of vipers.  He also shows courage as he speaks such words to those who had the power to do him in which is exactly what they did. 

 

Oswald Chambers recently spoke a word through "My Utmost for His Highest" which said, "Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence."  While some folks get all wrapped up in naming the sins, when we stop and look for the common denominator which connects all of as the sinners we are, surely, the word "independence" hooks us all together.  Of course, Chambers was not in reference to a kind of political independence upon which democracies are built, but upon an independence which causes us to think that we can live without God. 

 

If we sin, or, perhaps, it is more appropriate to say, when we sin, is it not because we are seeking to live our life our way instead of God's way?  Is it not because we figure we have a better way than the way God has outlined for us through His Word?  Even after we start the journey of faith, we find ourselves on this road called independence which causes us to try living in our own strength and without God.  When we honestly look at the many ways we try to walk the road of faith depending more upon ourselves than God, we realize we once again need to hear message of the old Baptizer.