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Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a 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 thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."

This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

John 1:24-28


...the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie...


If there was one word to describe John the Baptist it would be humble. My friend Fil and I talk a lot about this. Not John the Baptist. But humility. We both admire it. We both do not come by it naturally. We marvel at those who seem to have this lack of self-awareness. That are freed from the shackles of the perception of others. Lile John the Baptist. He wore camel hair, not something you'd see on the red carpet. He ate locusts. He lived by the river. That's where Chris Farley's famous motivational speaker lived. He was a joke. And yet, John the Baptist didn't seem to notice. 


And once he did gain recognition, he passed it over to his cousin. He said, don't look at me. I'm nothing coming to him...later in John he'll say these most beautiful of lines: he must increase; I must decrease. 


That's is pure humility. I marvel at it.