Mark 1:5-8

⁵ And everyone from the territory of Judea, and everyone of the Jerusalemites were going out to him, and after confessing their sins, they were being baptized by him. ⁶ And John has clothed himself with camel’s hair, and with a leather belt around his waist, and he is eating locusts and field honey. ⁷ And he was preaching by telling them: “the One who is more important than me is coming after me, of whom I am not worthy to even bend down and untie the strap of his shoes.” ⁸ I baptized you[1] in water, but he will baptize you[2] in the Holy Spirit.

the next big thing

For all intents and purposes, John the Baptist was a bleary-eyed lunatic who did not understand his time or his culture.  He did not dress right, eat right, live in the right place, or say the right thing.  But he was not ego-centric or idiotic.  He was focused on the beat of a not-so-distant drummer.  He was ready for the next big thing: the coming of Christ.  In an age where people were like parrots, he was a lone voice.  Funny thing was, everyone got that.  They loved John.  They loved the way he dared to speak up against the political giants.  They loved the way he bucked tradition.  They respected his commitment to the future, even if they could not connect the dots the way he did.

You and I have a choice to make.  We can stay buried in the present, or we can commit ourselves to the next big thing: the return of Christ.  If we are willing to make that commitment, then the question of relevance for us needs to have a new axis.  We need to ask ourselves if what we do today makes sense in relation to the next big thing.

LORD, make us a people focused on and relevant to your second coming. 

[1] plural.

[2] plural