You Are Not The Message; You Are Simply The Messenger

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.’” John 1:23 (NIV)

Pastor, you are a voice. You are not the message; you are simply the messenger.

Like Isaiah and John the Baptist, you are the “voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’” (John 1:23 NIV).

Your objective is to reach the place where you are honest when you say:

The message I bring is from God; it’s not anything I thought up on my own. God filled me with his Holy Spirit so that I could understand his message and know without a doubt that his message is true and freely given.

The words I speak are not the result of human wisdom or human imagination or my own opinion; they were formed in me by the Holy Spirit so that I could express “spiritual truths in spiritual words” (1 Corinthians 2:12–13 NIV, with author paraphrase).

I am simply a channel for God’s message. In order for his message to grow in me and to grow in you, he must increase and “I must decrease” (John 3:30 NKJV).

The more I state the message, the more I align with the message; the more I live the message, the more he increases and the more I decrease.

The more I decrease, the more God’s message flowing through me comes to you pure—unfiltered and uncontaminated by my opinions, prejudices, demands, and self-reliance.

This is my God-true assessment of who I am in Christ. Authentic humility means I know who I am and my place in God’s plan. It means my position did not come from my own hands, but is a gift freely given from the one who holds me in his hands.

I’m not the message; I’m the messenger. I am a voice; I’m a God-created, God-cleansed, God-commanded voice.

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Jon Walker’s new book explains the importance of small groups: In Visible Fellowship: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s Classic Work ‘Life Together’.

This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.