John 1:21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
Sometimes it is important to know what you are not! I know I am not a good salesman. In fact, I am terrible at it. I am also not a politician. I have the tendency to say the truth even when it isn’t popular. I am too straight forward. I am also someone who gets easily distracted and bored with the same old same old. I need challenges and change.
We all need to know who we aren’t. This brings an end to pretension and grandstanding. It lets the air out of our inflated balloons. When we know who we aren’t, then we can begin to discover who we are, the shape of the image of God in us. We can begin to become what God has designed us to be. We can begin working in line with His will in this world accomplishing His Kingdom agenda.
John the Baptist was making a big splash in his day. Crowds were gathering to hear his radical message. He didn’t coddle his crowds, he challenged them to live a radical life of obedience, starting with a call to repent, a change of direction.
It is funny how John knew who he wasn’t. He could be clear about that. But when it came to who he was, it seems rather ambiguous. “A voice of one calling in the wilderness.” What is that! Come on, John, give me something to go on here.
Well, he is giving us something, something powerful and unique. He is claiming that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the forerunner of the Messiah. His job was to set the stage for the Messiah’s coming by getting the hearts of the people ready to receive the Messiah. To put it in modern language, he was the advance team. He was on the ground first making all the arrangements.
But to come to that conclusion John had to reject other labels. He had to reject the label “Elijah.” The belief at that time was that a person like Elijah the prophet would come before the Messiah. And even though John filled that role, that label would probably have brought some baggage with it that John knew he wasn’t to carry.
John also rejected the label of “the Prophet.” The expectations of this person would have sidetracked John from his simple mission. But he was “the Prophet” that had been foretold.
Today we have labels that can get us sidetracked from our mission in life. We can be labeled “successful” and that brings a level of attention that can easily cause us distraction. The cameras and interviews that success brings can move us away from the essentials. We can be successful without adopting the trappings. We must keep success from owning us.
“Mover and shaker” used to be a label that was popular when I was growing up. It simply meant that things were getting done that needed to be done. It meant rejecting the status quo and embracing change. It meant doing something rather than just going along for the ride.
I really want one label: Follower of Jesus. All the earthly labels just get in the way. They can get us misdirected and confused about our mission here on this earth. We can so easily get distracted. I don’t want to get distracted.
What are the labels that have been attached to you that don’t serve your purpose in life? I want to encourage you to find out who you are not, in order to focus on who you are in Christ.