Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
They asked him, “Then who are you? Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John replied in the words of Isaiah the Prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals am not worthy to untie.”
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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John’s testimony continually pointed to Jesus…even when the focus was tempted to be on himself. Sometimes in life we are tempted to put the focus on ourself or even others. We need to follow the example of John here and always point to Jesus…no matter what, where, or how the temptation may come to put it on someone or something else. Jesus is the only one worthy. Today, let’s take that focus off of self, off of government, off of celebrity…and fix it on Jesus and on Jesus alone.
A Journey With Jesus 