Friday | Week 1

One summer at church camp I met a kid named Keith. Keith was confident, expressive in his worship, and he taught me how to play Pokémon. Even though Keith was my age he was still sort of a hero to me. Keith wasn’t afraid for people to see him worshiping Jesus. I remember distinctly hearing someone go up to him and say, “You’re the man, Keith!”

Without being silly or cheesy Keith responded with, “I’m not the man, I’m just a fan of The Man.” He even showed me later that he had Fan of The Man stamped on the front cover of his Bible, where someone would normally put their name.

Keith lived life differently than anyone I had ever seen. He did things in a way that one couldn’t help but notice—he sort of stuck out. When someone noticed him standing out and asked him about it, he quickly pointed people toward Jesus.

This is exactly what we see John the Baptist doing all through the first chapter of John. The Jewish leaders noticed that he was living differently and when they asked him, he simply replied, “I’m not Him, but I’m a fan of Him—and He’s coming” (v.15 paraphrase).

John the Baptist also had disciples following him and learning from him. John was worthy of following and imitating, but as soon as Jesus arrived on the scene John encouraged those following his lead to follow Jesus instead. One of these disciples was Andrew and verses 41 and 42 tell us,

“The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.”
John 1:41-42 NIV

The example set by John the Baptist as he pointed others toward Jesus was immediately followed by Andrew.

Treat your neighbors differently. Love your children differently. Serve your community, church, or school differently. Maybe mow your lawn differently! Do anything you can to live your life in a way that is so different that it will be noticed by other people. When they commend you for something you’re doing, point them to Jesus.

I’m not that big of deal. But Jesus, whom I serve, is the biggest deal.