Just A Voice

He avoided the limelight like it was the plague, constantly downplaying his importance. When asked who he was, he replied with two words…a voice.

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Anybody remember the AOL guy? You know, the one who’s most famous quote was “You’ve got mail”?

Anybody? No?

I get it. That is a bit old school.

I’m pretty sure everyone reading is familiar with Siri and Alexa though, right?

Right.

The thing that all three of these persons have in common is that they’re really only known for their voices. As far as I know, the actual persons live in obscurity. They don’t make headlines. Really, you probably wouldn’t know who they are unless you Googled them. But their voices have made the brands that they represent world famous.

That’s the vibe I get from John the Baptist (John 1:15-23).

Those who are familiar with his biblical profile know that he wasn’t a headliner at all. He lived in extreme obscurity. He avoided the limelight like it was the plague, constantly downplaying his importance. When asked who he was, he replied with two words…a voice.

Isn’t that weird? I mean, John did everything in his power to redirect followers as opposed to attracting them. This is a largely ridiculous concept nowadays even in popular church culture.

But it’s a concept I yearn to adopt as my own.

I hope I can be just like John, and like the AOL guy, and like Siri and Alexa. I hope that I can remain obscure, but have an influential voice that makes the Jesus I represent world famous. I hope that I can maintain the humility to detach followers from me and point them towards Him. I hope that for as long as I live here on Earth, I’ll be perfectly content with being just a voice…a voice that speaks volumes about Jesus with both words and actions.

And hopefully, if this comes across right to those who read this, I’ll be a voice amongst many other voices.

 

 

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on jesusthecenter.com

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About the Author

Wayne is a husband, father, avid reader and writer, and youth minister who happens to believe that Jesus is the focal point of every aspect of life…the individual, family, society, government, philosophy, the arts…and everything in between. He’s committed to challenging preconceived notions about what it means to follow Jesus, and seeks to engage the culture instead of running from it.