Who Are You?

In a recent article by Steve Higginbotham (available here), he talked about his wife’s practice of copying out–by hand–the words of the Bible. I decided to try this method of study this year. One of the selling points Steve mentioned is that we write slower than we read and, as a byproduct, we can absorb more of what we are seeing, reading, and writing. (As a teacher, this also speaks to my love of multisensory learning!)

As I was writing out John 1, I found my first gem. In verse 19, we see that the “Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’” This made me think about why they would want to know. What about John made them ask who he was?

If you read all of John 1, you see that basically all John was doing was telling people about Jesus. He was “bear[ing] witness” (verses 7 and 32), gave testimony (verse 17), and confessed (verse 20).  Perhaps most famously he proclaimed in verse 36, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

All of this led me to ask myself, “Why do people ask who I am?” I would hope that there is something about my life that makes me different enough from the world around me that would make others want to know what makes me tick. I think that’s what the Pharisees were after when they sent to ask John who he was. He sure wasn’t living by their standards! He was more interested in pleasing the One who sent him (verse 6).

May I live enough for Jesus that people will want to know why I am who I am.

“Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

To Receive Every Article from A Legacy of Faith through Email for Free, Click Here

AUTHOR: Amber Tatum