God Told Me

Scripture

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ (John 1:29-30 NLT) 

God Told Me  

It really bugs me when “God told me” gets used frequently and casually in some circles. I once suggested to a friend that God might prefer his taking the Divine name when he hits his finger with a hammer rather than easily saying God told him to do something.  

However, we are confronted with a host of our spiritual ancestors who do the same and I don’t take as much time as I might to think about people like John the Baptist. He had a clear call before his birth and claims Divine revelation for his opinions about Jesus.  

Where did this ability to operate under pressure but still see beyond our space/time continuum in understanding Jesus’ arrival on the scene? He sees Jesus very much in the flesh, a few months younger and about to follow his ministry. And yet he says even though Jesus will come after him, nonetheless he existed before him. These are the thin spaces of the Celts where eternity and our world are separated only by a gossamer veil.   

This is the mystery of our faith. John went into the family business – his parents were clergy and no doubt told him about his miraculous birth story and predictions about his vocation.  

But somewhere along the line he had to hear deep in his soul that he was called to be Jesus’ front man and put his life on the line for what he claimed. I’ve staked my life on Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and presence in our lives, but I’m nervous to say much more – not many of my opinions which I might think are from God are ready to be tested by life-or-death equations. 

A Prayer for Today

O God of mysterious kindness you have allowed us to see you in Jesus. You have given us great writers of the Gospels and Epistles to shape our thinking about you. Let us be open to move beyond just our congestive, propositional places and open our whole selves to hear and experience what you call us to in love and service     …. For Jesus’ sake