10/14. John the Baptist
My first thought had actually nothing to do with the man but was instead a warm, comfortable feeling that comes to mind when I hear the word “Baptist.’’ I spent a lot of years worshipping in Baptist churches, and much of my evangelical bent comes from formative experiences in Bible interpretation and a broad hymnological history. Of course, Baptist as a denominational marker is gone along with Methodist, Presbyterian, et al, as part of an attempt to appeal to all by unbranding themselves and focusing on the core issue of man’s sin and God’s provision of salvation through Jesus. So, Baptist connotes much that is intertwined with my faith’s origins and development. But, back to the man himself, there is no one outside of Jesus, who had a more exciting pre-birth existence, from is call to preach repentance and to to proclaim Jesus’s coming, to being possessed of the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15), to his leaping in his mother’s womb when a pregnant Mary comes to visit in recognition of Jesus’ presence. Fantastic. Unbelievable, yet true. Imagine, thinking of the times in your life when the Holy Spirit most powerfully worked in you. For most, those times are separated by their pre-conversion years and then afterward by fallow times, a constant spiritual life of peaks and valleys.. Now imagine John the baptist WHO WAS INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHILE IN HIS MOTHER’S WOMB! Then imagine if you can what his entire life might have been like for him, and finally what life might be like for us if we responded to being given the same Holy Spirit and much of the same mission.