10 January, Saturday — Second Best

Saturday after Epiphany Sunday

1 Jn 5:14-21
Jn 3:22-30

“The bride is only for the bridegroom; and yet the bridegroom’s friend, who stands there and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This same joy I feel, and now it is complete.”

Imagine this scenario: you put your heart and soul into a mission; you make it your life’s work. You toil and sacrifice for years, only to have to relinquish the following you generated and give the credit to someone else, and watch that person take over.

Sounds conflicting and somewhat brutal, does it not? Yet, this is what happened to John the Baptist. John spent years paving the way for Jesus, preaching in the desert, and baptizing as many people as he could. He gained quite a following, so it was only natural that his followers might have felt slightly incensed when they heard of a man called Jesus doing the exact same thing not far from where they were. In modern day, we would probably feel the same way if someone was doing the same thing, and perhaps almost territorial with our work and our following.

It might be easy to say, knowing what we know, that John already knew that he was only preparing the people for Jesus, before Jesus started His work as Messiah. So, John would have expected that and would not feel so ‘put out’ when Jesus took over. Yet, John still did it. He could have said, “Well, what’s the point? Jesus would be coming to take the glory anyway. Why try so hard?” That last part really hits home, doesn’t it — why try so hard? John had that divine knowledge about Jesus as Messiah, and he declared it publicly. He said that he was not worthy enough even to untie the Messiah’s sandals. He called himself the ‘best man’ to the bridegroom. He declared the importance of Jesus in his life and his mission. He did what God had intended for him – his life’s purpose – but he never lost sight of his focus, or his ‘end game’, which was Jesus. He was happy, joyful even in fact, to declare that he was ‘second best’, to be less important so that God’s purpose could be realized through Jesus. How many of us are so blessed to have that sort of awareness or awakening in our own work?

What I am trying to say is that when we do something — be it our jobs or mission, at home, work or church — where are we placing our glory, our focus? The Epiphany marks the revelation of Christ as Son of God to the world – how are we marking this revelation in our lives? In a very simple way, when we achieve success at work in any form, do we credit this entirely to our own efforts? Or are we happy to play the best man like John, and give glory and recognition to God that all of this is only possible with Him? Are we happy to acknowledge that God has been and is the center of all that we do, that He is the reason we are showing up every day, even when the going gets tough? Do we recognize God’s purpose in our life’s work and are we still willing to try hard, whatever the outcome?

We may feel maybe indignant to play ‘second best’ despite our efforts, but however hard or long it takes for us to realise God’s hand in our lives, let us remember that to Him, we are never second best.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Annette Soo)

Prayer: Lord God, in all that we do in our lives, whatever we achieve, help us to always understand Your purpose in it for us and that You are always there, whatever the outcome.  

Thanksgiving: We give thanks to the Lord our God, for always putting us first, that You gave us Your only Begotten Son Jesus, so that we may not perish but have eternal life.