COURAGE TO STEP BACK

• DAY 94
• Fear File: John The Baptist
• Scripture: John 3:30

And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.

JOHN 3:26-30

Everyone needs courage to start, this we know. But rarely do we consider that ‘stopping’ needs courage as well. In our text today, we see that the era of the forerunner has come to an end. John’s time was up, the forerunner can now step down for the main runner. And John the Baptist was content with this arrangement. He was ready to decrease so Jesus could increase. By all counts, we can assume that he was looking at retirement. This takes courage.

Some of the things we are currently doing might just be for a particular time and when it is over, we are expected to move on. But sometimes when the time is complete, we don’t want to step away from the limelight because we are afraid we will be unimportant, irrelevant, and sidelined. I heard a preacher who was running a very big ministry say that God asked him to resign from that ministry to a remote village to start something else. God told him to hand over the ministry that he had spent years growing to somebody and move to a remote village, considering it was not even an exotic city. He said that it was the most difficult instruction he had to carry out. But eventually. he left it and walked away. Guess what, he is still relevant today. 

Relevance Is Relative

Everyone on earth wants to remain relevant. Nobody wants to be relevant today and then irrelevant tomorrow. But relevance is relative. It’s dependent on what God said and is saying per season. It’s dependent on your purpose in life. It is also dependent on who you want to be relevant for or to. Because it is possible to be relevant to God, and still not be relevant in the eyes of men. But the most important thing is for you to be relevant to and with God. 

You see, God determines the appointment as well as the duration of that appointment. You are not meant to carry on beyond the time God has asked you to. And I know it can be difficult leaving behind something you’ve grown used to. But you have to know that you need as much courage to move forward as you need to step aside. Because the truth is that the same anxiety you felt when you were starting the journey is likely going to be the same as you feel trying to step aside. 

I once served in a church for ten years and around the eighth year, I began to feel that it was probably time to go and do something else. People around me too started to have that feeling, I remember my mom calling to tell me about it and I felt so terrified. I knew that I was supposed to leave, but where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I can’t just leave a certain assignment and go in pursuit of what I do not know. It took some time, faith, and my family but I finally understood that the God that opened this door for me can open up another door as well. 

There Is Surely An End

One thing we have to put at the back of our minds is that as far as there is a beginning, there’s going to be an end. I started this devotional in obedience to God, and I know that once the year ends, the devotional will end too. Although, I know there’s a book that’s coming out of this, I don’t know if God wants me to continue the devotional. I don’t know if He’s going to ask me to keep talking about overcoming anxiety, or to move in an entirely new direction. I don’t know, but I’m already building the courage I need for what comes after. Because I do not intend to stay stuck to a success God has left behind.

Let Go

So let this be an encouragement for you. If God is asking you to stop something, even if it is a good thing, now is a good time to stop it before things get messy. Because the truth is, God loves you and He will make sure that you do not prosper in your own self-orchestrated way. You might encounter some loss and pain. But trust me, God loves you and He’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure that you step into the fullness of His purpose in you. So don’t hold on to the things that you think are doing well today because you are afraid to step into the thing that is in front of you. 

Pray

Father, help me to have the courage and confidence to step away from what is not You. Give me the courage to step into the fullness of the next phase of my life according to your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Shalom!