I’m Not the Messiah

It's Jesus who can meet these needs that people have, not me.

"There is only one Messiah and I am not He." These words were typed on a piece of paper that was taped to the wall of a cubicle. The cubicle belonged to a pastor that I knew who had such a humble attitude. I only knew him for a few years before he passed away. But I think about that note on his cubicle wall often. The statement on the page was a regular reminder to himself to stay humble and simply point people to Jesus.

I am nobody's messiah. I'm just a fellow human being on a journey of following Christ. There is only one Messiah and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was the one who died on the cross to save people. Jesus is the one who guides us to where we need to go. Jesus is the one who helps us go through various challenges in life with His power. As a follower and servant of Jesus, my role is to simply point people to the one true Messiah. May people never look at me instead of Christ.

This is such a freeing insight: I'm nobody's savior. Jesus is the Savior and I simply point people to Him. I've come to realize that my role as a servant of Christ is to simply help people reconcile with God. And once they've reconciled with God, I simply help them relate to Him well through prayer, Scripture, worship, and contemplation. At the end of the day, I want people to learn to come to Jesus for themselves. I want people to look to Jesus for wisdom and guidance. I want people to ask Jesus for His supernatural power to help them in their struggles. It's Jesus who can meet these needs that people have, not me.

This allows me to take a step back and not be anxious about any situation because I know that Jesus is fully in control. I can let Jesus work in the different situations with His incredible power and perfect timing. I personally don't have to do all that much. I just have to keep pointing people to Christ. This allows me then to freely spend more time with Christ in prayer, Scripture, worship, and contemplation knowing that Jesus will take care of everything else when I'm away and resting in Him. I don't have to be worried about work or ministry or serving people. In the end, Jesus will take care of those things for me.

If people learn to come to Jesus on their own, listen to His voice, and obey what He says, then I can consider my work done. That's all I'm really called to do—help people simply trust and obey Christ through their own personal relationships with Him.

Barnabas the Monastic

Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.