Who is Worthy?

Does checking off your own agenda make you proud?

by Gretchen Leech

"He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

John 1:27

At the end of the day, what brings a smile to your face or brings you such relief that you feel it in your chest? I am notorious for making lists and checking them off. The night before, I write down my to-do list for the next day on a cute little notepad and I wake up ready to tackle everything on that list. One by one as I check things off I feel relief sweeping over me. At the end of the day, if I have everything checked off, I feel satisfied, proud, and happy. If I don’t have everything checked off I feel anxious, worthless, and angry. How does checking off a list that I made from my own agenda make me feel worthy at the end of the day? Is that really something I should feel proud about?

In Luke 7:28, it says that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets. He was a man that completely and whole heartedly devoted his life to God. His only mission was preparing the world for the Messiah. He wanted people to recognize who the Messiah was. John did not care about his own agenda. He did not care about where he slept, he slept in the wilderness. He did not care about his next meal, he probably ate bugs if he had to . He did not care about what he wore, he wore a garment of camel hair. John was a man that was called to be a messenger to proclaim Jesus’ arrival and preach about the role He would play in the divine plan of redemption and John answered this calling with obedience and humility.

John 1 shows John declaring his mission. The Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites to ask John if he was the Messiah and John quickly explains that he is not. He explains that he is the one that is making straight the way for the Lord. He explains that among them is one that the priests and Levites do not recognize as the Messiah. One that John, the greatest prophet, is not even worthy to untie His sandals. Does that bring goosebumps to anyone else?

Here is John, a man that has committed his life to serving God and he does not even think he is worthy enough to be Jesus’ slave that unties His sandals. John’s only agenda is serving God and when he accomplishes this he is not filled with pride at the end of the day. He stays humble and realizes that he is nothing compared to the Almighty.

So, it makes me think about my obsession with checking off what is on my agenda each day. I know this is my perfectionism tying me with a tight knot to being goal oriented to what I want instead of what God wants for me. My goals end up getting in the way of my quiet time, my prayer time, my Bible reading, helping a neighbor, writing a card to my friend going through cancer treatment, or making a phone call to my friend that is stuck at home during this pandemic. It’s alright to have lists of chores we need to do. What is not alright is filling up our day to capacity with our own agenda and not leaving any room for God to work in our day.

If you struggle with this like I do, please join me in saying a prayer right now. Ask God to help you make time for Him. Ask God first thing in the morning to help you put on hold your own agenda so that you can fulfill the requests He makes of you. God will make a way for us to humble ourselves before Him if that’s what we truly want.

At the end of the day, we need to look back and see the ways God worked through our day. We do not need to be proud of the things we accomplished, we need to be humble enough to see what we accomplished for Jesus and still not be worthy enough to tie His sandals.

Digging deeper: Read John 1, Deuteronomy 10:17-22, Revelation 4:9-11

Which characteristic of God do you want to put your worth in and why? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control.

What can you do each day to change your focus from your own agenda to God’s will?