March 5

The voice of one crying in the wilderness. — Matt 3:3

It is a good thing to be a voice if it is a voice given to God. John was a voice telling the people that Jesus was coming.

It is well to have a good family line, but we are not saved by genealogy. It was not enough to be of the family of Abraham, although that was splendid stock. It is not enough now to have had a godly grandfather, although it is a great thing to come of a fine ancestry. We can be saved only by being ourselves in right relation with God.

The baptism of Jesus was His consecration to His Messiahship. He knew, too, what it meant. The shadow of the cross fell upon Him as He stood there by the Jordan. Yet He faltered not, but quietly accepted His anointing and went on His way.

So when we give ourselves to God, for whatever service He may allot to us, the heavens again open and we receive the Spirit and hear the Father’s witness.