Robert was reading to the kids from 1st John the other day in our room and Bryse had stepped into our bathroom for a tissue and yelled back into the room, "Who wrote this? Is that John the Baptizer?" Hee hee! Robert told her it was not John the Baptizer but John, the brother of Jesus but I thought it was so funny that she thought to ask that! I've been thinking about what it must've been like to be Elizabeth and have the job of mothering John. The man that Jesus called the greatest man who ever lived! And what was he like? He lived in the wilderness, ate bugs and honey, and wore camel hair. We can guess that it had been a long while since he had put a brush through his hair and brushed his teeth! And you wanna talk about a rough preacher?! Just read Luke 3 and get a glimpse at how rude he was to his listeners! He held nothing back. He was fulfilling a prophesy so these were special circumstances, but still Jesus said this man that called his listeners "brood of vipers" was the greatest man to ever live!! We don't know when or how Elizabeth and Zachariah died. It could be that they died when John was quite young since they were older when he was born. But I'm going to assume for a bit that they didn't die when he was very young. Let us wonder what it would be like to raise a young man that would so dreadfully NOT fit in. Who would truly be in the world but not even close to being of that world. Luke 1:80 says about John that "he grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Isreal." Elizabeth never had a chance to brag about her son to her friends. To talk about his impressive career or how good he was at baseball or the violin. This guy was weird. She raised a weird son. And that was God's will! Think on that for a moment. When we were deciding wether or not we would homeschool our biggest concern was keeping our kids relevant in today's world. We felt a calling to homeschool but were terribly concerned that our children would be weird socially because of it. We did NOT want weird children. I wonder if Elizabeth struggled with that worry. I wonder if when her son became a man (usually around the age of 14 at that time), didn't pack a bag, but just left to be in the wilderness, if she felt embarrassed. I wonder if she tried to make him presentable clothes to take him so that he would take off that filthy camel hair. I wander if she tried to introduce him to nice young jewish girls in hopes that he would settle down and provide her with grandchildren like all the other women had. Or maybe the Lord prepared her heart for what He had called John to. Sometimes Robert imagines Cal's future. A future where Cal will be a famous golf player and Robert will be his caddy, giving him advice at the Masters. And that Cal will proclaim the Gospel while kicking everyone's tail at golf! He talks about this with me and finds such joy in it! Ha! But then he always reminds himself that even if that doesn't happen. If Cal grows up, gets married, has kids and ends up a pastor of a small church in some small town and his congregation never rises above 15 people (Gasp! American's christianity's worst nightmare) but all the while he is proclaiming the true gospel then he will be just as proud of him. We have to remind ourselves often of this. That we want what God wants for our children. Not what we want or what the world wants.
I pray for the eyes of Jesus. I can't even express how hard it is to get that stupid world vision out of my head! Jesus did not fit in either! And He called a bunch of misfits to follow Him! The world looked at the Pharisees and saw perfection. And they killed the perfect son of God. How can we expect any different reaction from the world when we seek His righteousness? Is our family pointing toward Christ? As John did, consistently and completely. He pointed toward Christ, preparing the way. Are we preparing ourselves for His return and pointing other's to Him with our words and actions? If so, then why in the world would it matter if my kids are dressed trendy, if we do all the popular sports, or if my girls' hair is always combed perfectly? I am constantly praying for the Lord to help me to not worship the world but to worship Him. Picturing what it must've been like to raise John the Baptist helps me with that.
2 Comments
Karen
4/22/2013 09:42:22 pm
Beautifully said!
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Melissa
4/23/2013 03:37:02 am
Love! Great insight and encourage.
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