Watch And Wait

Hey Everyone,

Just thought I’d post another blog while waiting for our updated site to launch (hopefully in the next few weeks!)

I’ve been reading in the Gospel of John recently and was blessed by something yesterday morning. Many of you are familiar with the verse “He must increase, but I must decrease” in John 3:30. It’s a solid truth in and of itself, but taken alongside its surrounding context makes it all the more rich…

The quote comes from John the Baptist in response to a man who was concerned that Jesus was baptizing people on the other side of the Jordan. In a sense the man was saying, “You’ve got competition on the other side of the river.” John gives a wonderful explanation as to why it was not only okay that Jesus was baptizing, but that it was actually part of the original plan – that John was sent to prepare the way for Christ. He responds with this statement, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is FULL OF JOY when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. THAT JOY IS MINE, and it is now complete.” Then he says , “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

What blesses me about this text is where John’s joy (and our joy) comes from. It comes from waiting and listening for the voice of Jesus, consummating when we actually hear that voice. I think John was in essence saying, “You don’t understand, my work is not about me. I’m not trying to build my own career and notoriety in baptizing. My whole purpose is to pave the way for Christ. I have been waiting for Him to come, listening for His voice, and now that He is doing what He came to do my joy is complete.”

I have been asking the Lord to help me wait and listen for Him. I have also been asking the Lord for joy. I am convinced that true joy does not come in my own “successes” that I build myself, or in my own “increasing”. I am convinced that it comes from watching Him do His supernatural work and being able to co-labor with Him – as one who attends a bridegroom or a best friend. Perhaps I’ve arrived at this because the things this world has to offer me have grown increasingly unsatisfying. I’ve had a lot of disappointments over the past few years, as I’m sure many of you have had. I’ve tried hard at a lot of things with my own human strength and have come up weak, or “strong” but unfulfilled. I long for the supernatural. How about you????

I believe John wanted to see Christ increase because with every measure of Christ’s enlargement, John’s joy grew with it. May we be able to say along with John the Baptist when hearing the voice of Christ, “THAT joy is mine.”