John the Baptist delivered this line after being asked about Jesus taking over his baptizing business—He must become greater; I must become less.

John received a great deal of attention for his preaching and baptizing. So much so he was eventually beheaded. People assumed he would find in Jesus a competitor, a rival preacher setting up shop downriver.

But the man dressed in camel hair knew from whence his locusts and wild honey sprang. John the Baptist understood Jesus to be the Messiah sent from God, the long-awaited one. He would do nothing except promote the work of his Savior.

The Baptizer’s message remains countercultural. I’m told to become more, to seek greatness, to maximize me. But John pursued a different life plan—to make much of Jesus. Like John, when I let Jesus take the center, I find that I enjoy the edges.

John 3 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado

I’ve helped set up for, and clean up after, reunions and weddings and funerals. Big events require preparation of pull off, and as seamless as they may appear, at lot of hustle goes on behind the scenes.

Jesus attended a wedding where the wine ran short. His mother urged him to do something. Jesus sent the servants to fill enormous jars with water, then draw some out and take it to the master of the wedding banquet. I love this next part of the story:

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

The host praised the bridegroom for saving the best wine for last. The party continued on, guests oblivious to the miracle they drank. But the servants knew. They glanced at one another and tried not to stare at Jesus. The hired help were the first to glimpse the remarkable nature of Jesus.

Everyone at the celebration experienced the goodness of Jesus as they enjoyed their wine. The Lord blessed them without their knowledge or appreciation. Many people enjoy the good things of this world without understanding that every single one emerges from the hand of God.

Masters may miss this point, but servants see the truth.

John 2 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Kate Townsend

I write about God a lot, and I work for an organization dedicated to spreading good news about Jesus around the world. I see evidence of the Lord’s activity all around me, but I’ve never actually seen God in the flesh.

None of us have, actually. John wrote, No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. Jesus came in flesh like ours so he could be seen and touched. No so with God the Father.

The prophet Ezekiel experienced a vision of God, who appeared out of a tornado with lightning and brilliance. Surrounded by spectacular creatures, Ezekiel described a figure of a man, consisting of glowing metal and fire, emerging like a rainbow in the clouds, radiant and hopeful.

But Ezekiel did not see God himself. He wrote, This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Ezekiel viewed only a representation of God’s glory. A facsimile, a glimpse of a shadow. Even so, whatever he saw drove Ezekiel to the ground. His legs gave out. A hint of splendidness overwhelmed him. A trace of the real thing would have obliterated Ezekiel, like standing below a nuclear device detonated overhead.

The magnificence of a shadow points me to the awe-inspiring nature of God. Then, understanding that Jesus dwelt among us so that I might approach this previously unapproachable God, directs me to his goodness and desire that I might come to know him.

John 1 & Ezekiel 1 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Luis Graterol

We spent time with our almost two-year old granddaughter a few weeks ago. She loves going to the playground where she follows bigger kids around and tries to do what they do. If they go down a slide, she goes down. If they climb back up the slide she wants to climb back up. If one drinks from a puddle she bends over to take a sip. She mimics the older kids.

Paul urged the church members in Corinth to mimic him. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.

The word imitate comes from the same root word of mimic. Paul encouraged these young followers of Jesus to copy his ways. So how were they to imitate Paul?

In the preceding verses Paul described his missionary experiences. We are fools for Christ… We are weak, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

Not sure I want to mimic that lifestyle. But Paul speaks to humility, to trusting God despite circumstances and how others mistreat us, to continue to pursue the Lord as we go through life.

Paul was one of the big kids on the playground. Not because he was tougher or richer or more intimidating, but because he humbly followed the Lord through every challenge in life. That’s a person worth imitating.

1 Corinthians 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Sigmund