Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
Has any man ever given up, for Christ and the gospel, the one-and-only woman whom he loves with all his heart?
For sure it wasn’t Adam in the Garden of Eden: he did the opposite: he sacrificed Christ and heaven for the woman he loved!
Many like Adam would give up every thing in order to have that one woman whom they love.
It’s possible that John the Baptist made that sacrifice. We never read of his having a wife. But he says something that sounds like the love of Christ constrained him to make that rare, total sacrifice.
When he began to preach at the Jordan River, multitudes flocked to hear him (Matt. 3:5). Then when Jesus came, the crowds abandoned John and flocked to hear Him (cf. Luke 7:18ff). To have the crowds turn their back on you is not easy. John describes how he felt toward Jesus:
“No one can have anything unless God gives it to him. ... The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete. He must become more important while I become less important” (John 3:27-30, GNB).
John was willing to say goodbye to the crowds who had flocked to him; he was happy, content, to become the “less important “one as “the bridegroom’s friend.” And John finally perished alone in Herod’s dungeon, apparently forsaken by Jesus, even though he had dedicated his all to the work of Jesus (see Matt. 11:2-14). Jesus could not go to comfort him because He knew that in ages to come millions of saints would also perish alone unjustly, and Jesus knew they would have to gather comfort from the story of John the Baptist.
And there in prison Herod cruelly had John beheaded for no reason.
John laid aside his own deeply rooted, God-given love for woman, that he might honor the Savior of the world.
Jesus didn’t ask him to do it; but the love of Christ constrained him to do more than Jesus asked. It’s a picture of how much people are willing to sacrifice for Him. John’s original understanding of Jesus was that He is “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29); thus it was “Christ and Him crucified” that motivated John to his end (cf. 1 Cor. 2:2). Us too!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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