As I shared an image on social media this week that said, “Live to make Christ known,” it immediately made me think of the above verse. While I can post it, write it, or get a tattoo of it on my body somewhere, I realize it’s not as easy as it sounds, especially in our world where it’s all about promoting ourselves.

Our society tells us to make ourselves larger-be bigger than life itself. Honestly it leaves us feeling lost and empty when we are running the race of constantly trying to be bigger and better than those around us. Because there is always someone who is better at the thing we are trying to be the best at.

Back when Jesus started His ministry, there was already someone on the scene who was teaching and preaching. In fact, he had quite a following. In today’s terms he might have even been known as an influencer. His name was John—better known as John the Baptist or John the Baptizer.

John the Baptist was a famous preacher of his time. He could have elevated himself—given himself all the credit for the following he had. However, he knew his mission was to point others to Jesus. He had come to prepare others to hear the message of Christ.

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, make straight the way for the Lord.” Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one who you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” John 1:23-27

Even though John the Baptist had a thriving ministry, he recognized who Jesus was and where the credit belonged. In the midst of many who were unwilling to believe Jesus was Who he said He was, John the Baptist believed and proclaimed it.

Then right after that John gives an account of baptizing Jesus himself. If there was ever a reason to brag or elevate himself, here it is. John could have claimed all of this for himself to make his name known even more than it was.

Then John gave this testimony, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him except the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34

Immediately after this, John saw Jesus coming and pointed out that Jesus was the Messiah. John’s followers then started following Jesus. John could have been jealous or upset about this. These were HIS followers, but John wasn’t upset. He was constantly looking for opportunities to point others back to Jesus. He was elevating Jesus because John knew his mission was to do that, to elevate the Savior of the world. In fact later in the book of John an argument arose with John’s disciples.

It can be easy to get caught up in the success (or lack thereof) of the work God calls us to do. We can even start to compare our ministry to someone else’s. When we do this, friends, it takes the focus off WHO it’s supposed to be on and turns it back on us.

We are measuring our success or failure with a human measuring stick, when all along we need to remember to do all things with God’s strength and guidance. We have to keep ourselves in check in every area of our lives, especially in ministry and ask, “Who am I pointing to? Who am I elevating in this area of my life?”

We were created to serve a God who is perfect. We were created to praise Him. And we were created to point others to Him constantly. We cannot ever be saviors of others, only He can do that. It is easy to fall into that trap of focusing on us and what we can/can’t do, instead of pointing to the ONE who can and is able to do ALL things.

Today and every day let’s follow John the Baptist’s example of constantly making our Jesus larger than anything in this life! He did this by making Him known, constantly proclaiming Who He was and what He was able to do. He knew His ministry was only available because of God Himself, and constantly handed it over to Him.

So this week as we are serving Him and others, let’s ask ourselves this question-Is there an area (or areas) of our lives we need to re-examine under the lens of making sure we are magnifying Him and not ourselves? Let’s make Him famous today and every day!!