January 16

LEAPING EMBRYOS

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Luke 1:39-45

I have a big family. Not my immediate family, but my extended family on my Dad’s side. My Dad is the youngest of 9 children; I am the youngest of 26 grandchildren. As I said, it is a big family. Being the youngest grandchild, I am quite a bit younger than most of my first cousins. Even so, I am somewhat close to some of them, and close to some of my second cousins as well. This passage makes me think of them. It is commonly thought that Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins. Their exact familial relationship is not known for certain, but that is not the important part here. I wonder if John leapt in his mom’s womb because Jesus was his relative or because he was Jesus. Would any baby have leapt for joy? (Which brings up a great question, how does a pregnant woman know if a baby is full of joy, but I digress.)

I have a cousin that plays professional baseball. He currently is in the minor leagues with my beloved Yankees. I was privileged to watch him play a lot his last year in college. I enjoyed watching him pitch because he was my cousin, but that was not the only reason. If he had been horrible, I probably would not have enjoyed going to the games as much. He still would have been my cousin, but I would likely not have been cheering from the stands. I enjoyed watching him because he is good. The other people in the stands, the friends, teammates, and random fans, they all enjoyed watching him, yet had no family ties to him. They just wanted to see quality.

Considering all of this, I do not think baby John was jumping around because Jesus was related. I think he was dancing just because of who Jesus is. That is how we should respond. We should not be joyful about Jesus for any other reason than He is who He is. Sure He died for us, but if that is the only reason we love Him, aren’t we elevating the gift over the giver? So just enjoy Him for Him. Worship Him.

Today leave His footprints by loving Him for simply being Jesus.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!