Joseph decided. The magi decided. Herod decided. John decided. And when John came to make the people ready for Jesus, he said all must decide.

Imagine John the Baptist is preaching to you. Repent, he says! Stop living however you please and embrace God’s true way of life! Turn from your selfishness and your sins, which will destroy you, and turn to God, who loves you and wants to save you! Change your mind about the ways and wiles of the world, and open your heart to the kingdom of heaven! Can you answer, “Sir, I have repented and confessed my sins”? Can you say, “I have been baptized as a sign of my repentance”? Can you say, “I now bear good fruit for my God”?

Friends, John told all to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Some did. They changed their minds and confessed that they were living in rebellion to the King and the good laws He had made. As they changed their minds, they changed their ways and strove to live by His Word. Others did not repent, or only pretended to. John was particularly hard on the pretenders. He said that unless they produced fruit “in keeping with repentance,” they would not escape “the wrath to come.” Jesus would sort them out. In the end, “every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Before John was “John the Baptist,” he was just John. And John had to decide to give up everything to serve the Lord. No halfway plan would do.

Imagine you’ve been given a very specific job to do — but it’s hard, very hard. You know your assignment. The Boss has been clear about what He wants you to do, and He’s given you all the tools you need to get the job done. He’s a good Boss. He never fails to reward His workers in the end. But doing this job for Him requires you to turn your back on nearly everything that people value. Your pay? Negligible. Working conditions? Abominable. Critics and challenges? Innumerable. Surely you’re tempted to look for a shortcut, for some way to do the job without sacrificing so much of yourself. Surely John was tempted.

Friends, to do the job he was called to do, John couldn’t shortcut God’s plan or obey halfway. He had to leave his way of life behind, go to the wilderness, and learn to depend on the Lord of Life. He had to call men and women to repent and bear fruit worthy of repentance, even though it was guaranteed to offend. When people flocked to him, he had to be ever-willing to point them not to himself and his ministry, but to the King and His coming kingdom. To be the Baptist, John had to go out, cry out, and prepare the Lord’s way at great cost to himself. He did, and so became the mighty man God created him to be.