The Invisible Man--Out Of The Way Of His Message

The message in today's installment is very
dear to my heart;
to say that the testimony of this 'invisible' man has been an inspiration
 doesn't go nearly far enough.  
I know, though, that he would only want us
 to see right past him to his Lord and ours.

(Part 7 of the Beyond Trophies Series)

I want to share with you the story of someone you may have heard of, who was likely one of the most effective communicators of all time.  He predates all the current competitors in the league, so it’s probably okay for me to use at least his first name.  Though his life was tragically cut short at an early age, I honestly believe that, in that short life, he significantly affected the course of history from his small corner of the world.

Undaunted

You know I’ve been encouraging you to rely on God to direct what you should choose to speak about. Well, this young man did just that.  To say that John’s speech topics sparked discussion would be understatement.  Serious controversy would be more like it, yet he was totally undaunted.  He knew when he had a topic that the Lord wanted out in the open.

Though his audience’s reaction was consistently mixed, he never let the negative bias get to him.  He was willing to trust God with the outcomes.  He actually had some pretty serious heavyweights from his community judge his speeches, but he honestly wasn’t intimidated by what they might think.

He was a great one for analogies to illustrate his points, and I remember him talking about everything from marriage to gardening to snakes. 

In his day, he drew a pretty sizable audience for his speeches.  There aren’t many competition rooms that could hold the size audience that often gathered to hear him.

Powerful Humility

Perhaps the most amazing thing about John was that a speaker as gifted as he was would be so incredibly humble.  And his humility made him even more effective.

The best way to describe him might be that he totally got out of the way of his message.  Though singularly and unarguably effective, he regularly denied being somebody of importance.  It was as though he was so wrapped up and lost in his message that he became virtually invisible, and all you saw was his message.  It was never as if he were saying, “Look at me—I’m such a great speaker/actor!”  No, what came through was more like, “I’ve got the most awesome and important news to tell you, and it’s not about me!”  Then he simply delighted in telling it.

I don’t think it’s going to far too say that Jesus himself would say there was nobody greater.  It was clear that God had His hand on that boy from the time he was very small.  His godly parents had thought they could never have children, so when the man we know we know today as John the Baptist was born, his parents attracted quite a bit of attention because of their age, and their whole community wondered what this kid would turn out to be.  His dad spoke openly about how convinced he was that God was going to use their son in a mighty way to fulfill His purposes.

History proved his dad’s prophecy was right.  Since John’s tragic death, his story has been included in the biography of someone who became more famous than John—Someone whom the humble John claimed he himself wasn’t even worthy of untying the shoes of.   From the beginning, John’s message had actually been all about that other Someone, of whom John had willingly and joyfully said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”  And though he knew it was only a matter of time before his audience would one by one begin to walk away to follow another, he pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Joy, Joy, Joy

John said he rejoiced greatly to hear the voice of Jesus.  He said his joy was made full just to be the friend of Jesus.

The greatest communicators have much in common with John.  They have a message worth sharing.  They’re willing to get out of the way of their message—so thrilled with their message that they lose themselves in the telling of it, and all the while it only makes them all the more effective.  Oh, that each of us would rejoice to be a humble message bearer on behalf of our Beloved Savior, willing to be so wrapped up in His message that we gladly become less visible so His life and His message through us can be revealed.

If you want to read more about the role John played in God’s plans, you can find excerpts of his story within the following chapters: Isaiah 40, Malachi 3 & 4, Matthew 3 & 11, Mark 1 & 6, Luke 1, 3, 7, 9, & 20, and John 1, 3, & 4.  That's where the details of this story came from.