Exalt the Name of Christ Above Our Own
One could describe the Christian life in many different ways. You could describe the struggles of remaining faithful or the suffering of many for the sake of the Gospel. You could also describe the joys of living in light of forgiven sins or the knowledge of not having your sins held against you for all eternity. The Christian life is filled with many different aspects.
John the Baptist, I’m sure, experienced all these things, yet Scripture describes the essence of his life in one particular way. The sum of his life was making much of Christ. In Luke 3, many began to wonder whether or not he was the Christ who was to come to redeem Israel. John, knowing his place in the kingdom, said, “He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (Luke 3:16). John’s life was made up of pointing to Christ – the joy of man’s desiring!
The tendency of mankind is to make much of ourselves. This tendency doesn’t necessarily disappear when we become Christians. We still struggle with this desire even though we have found Christ, who fulfills all our desires and expectations. Yet, our effort should be that in all we do we point to and lift up the person of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are sign posts to the King of Wonder, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
It is easy to miss this in everyday life. For parents, we desire to have our children honor and obey us as God commands. However, it is easy to make their obedience to us more important than their obedience flowing from a heart that loves Christ and his Gospel. We, as parents, often make much of our status as the authority and forget to direct our children’s hearts to their Creator and Redeemer. Nothing can satisfy our hearts or the hearts of others except a grand vision of God. May God give us grace to be humble and to exalt the name of Christ above every name, including our own.
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John Starke is on staff at the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood in Louisville, KY. He and his wife Jena have three children. He also blogs at John Ploughman.
